Bullfrogs in Buttermilk
A Parable of Perseverence
Victus and Victor
In an old red barn on an East Texas farm, two frogs, Victus and Victor, leaped into a vat of fresh cow’s milk. They splashed and happily swam about in circles, lapping up the rich, white milk.
They must have played and feasted for an hour before deciding to hop out. The vat, however, was too deep to get their footing for the necessary leap. Moreover, the sides of the steel vat were too slick to climb, and besides, they were not the climbing kind of frog. They circled and croaked about their plight. If they remained, the farmer would surely find them and rip off their legs for drinking his milk.
What to do!
Executing a Plan
Victus said to Victor, “I could swim onto your back and leap over the edge and then find a stick and pull you out.”
Victor said, “Sure! Try it!”
Failure
He did. He failed. He could only manage to leap six inches, and the edge of the vat was eight inches above the milk line, at least. He tried again and again, and as he wore down, his leaping was less effective. He kept banging his head on the side of the vat.
Victus panicked.
Surrender
“We are doomed! I do not want to be pulled into pieces or smashed on the wall by an angry farmer. There is nothing to do but give up and die.”
“Never, ever give up!” Victor replied. “Remember, where there is life, there is hope!”
“There is no hope,” answered his beleaguered, milk-drunk, dizzy friend. “I will drink my fill and die full of milk.”
So, he did, he swam about the vat, lapping up milk until his belly was swollen, and then he sank to his death.
Swim!
Victor swam for all he was worth.
“There’s nothing left but to swim—or sink,” he muttered. “If I must die, I will die trying. I will die swimming.”
He swam and swam, his powerful legs propelling him in ever-quicker circles in the milk. He must have swum for hours, for after a long time, he churned the milk to butter, and leaped from the vat, and hopped down to the safety of his river home.
The Characters in the Story
Victus, whose name means “Defeat.”
Victor, whose name means, you guessed it, Victor, or “Winner.”
The Moral of the Story
“Winners never quit, and quitters never win. –Vince Lombardi
It is possible never to quit and still not win. It is not possible to quit and win. Keep on keeping on. Success may come with just one more swim around the vat.
The Origin of the Story
I first heard this fable from an evangelist during a tent revival on a muggy summer night when the flies were swarming and the mosquitoes were biting. The story snapped me from my adolescent trance. I heard it a few more times, but have not encountered it since the 1970s that I can recall. I have embellished it with elements like the frogs’ names and sundry details.
If you leap into a vat today, keep swimming, keep churning. Make butter.
What 'vat of milk' are you facing today? Share how you're keeping on in the comments below.
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