# The Frog — Short Fiction character guide

> The Frog in Short Fiction by Vsevolod Garshin.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0066-the-frog-who-travelled

## Snapshot

A cautious, croak-suppressing frog in an autumn swamp who, overhearing ducks bound for the warm South, resolves to join their journey despite having no wings.

## Who they are

She lives quietly under a log, mindful of frogly dignity and the rule against croaking out of season, until a flock of southbound ducks lands in her swamp and fills her head with talk of warm waters and clouds of midges. Curious but prudent, she hides first and questions later, weighing every rapture against its risk. Her longing to travel collides with the plain fact that she cannot fly, and the scheme she hatches in five minutes of muddy deliberation sets the whole fable in motion.

## In the story

### [Attalea Princeps](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/attalea-princeps)

A portly sicada (likely a misidentified plant) that mocks Attalea's growth and ambition.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/iv)

The old warder who stops Alexei from plucking the flower during the day.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/v)

The unnamed patient who plucks the red flower and engages in a delusional battle against evil.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/vi)

The unnamed patient who escapes his restraints, retrieves the scarlet blossom, and dies clutching it.

### [A Toad and a Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/a-toad-and-a-rose)

A fat old toad that obsessively desires to eat the rose, repeatedly climbing the thorny bush despite injury.

### [The Frog Who Travelled](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/chapters/the-frog-who-travelled)

The protagonist, a clever but vain frog who invents a method to travel south with ducks but falls due to her pride.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/characters/the_frog
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_56_se/characters