The Frog and the Nightingale Summary
Answers
Linewise Explanation of the poem ‘The Frog and the Nightingale’ by Vikram Seth
This poem is about a frog who lived at Bingle Bog. He loved singing and from night till morning he sang without a pause.
Since the frog’s voice lacked melody and sweetness, his singing irritated the other creatures of the Bog. They wanted him not to sing at all.
They requested him not to sing. But he did not budge. He continued singing. The creatures then stoned him; insulted him and even complained against him. Nothing could deter the frog.
One night a nightingale flew to the bog and perched on the sumac tree at whose foot the frog lived. She sang melodiously. All the creatures were amazed to hear such a melody.
Even the frog was awestruck to hear the melodious notes of the nightingale. All the creatures of the Bog listened to the nightingale rapt. When she ended her singing; they clapped for her.
Mesmerized by her melodious voice, the ducks, herons and other creatures were pulled towards her. A distant loon cried hearing her sweet notes.
Toads, teals and toddlers were also touched by her melody. They clapped for her and pleaded her to sing more for them.
The nightingale had never been praised thus. She felt so good and great. She sang for the Bog creatures till morning.
The nightingale decided to stay one more night at the Bog. In the evening when she was about to begin, the jealous frog interrupted her with her croak.
Startled the naïve bird asked the frog if he had croaked for her. The shrewd frog hopped towards her with the intention of exploiting her.
The frog began to blow his own trumpet. He said the tree she was perching on belonged to him. He bragged to her that he was the famous singer of the bog whom every creature adored.
The naïve, inexperienced and gullible nightingale asked the frog if he liked her song she had sung last night. (She forgot the huge applause and appreciation she had received from the Bog creatures.). The cunning frog found fault with her singing.
The gullible nightingale was greatly impressed with the cunning frog. She admitted that the song she had sung was not of the highest quality. She asserted but it was her own song.
The frog reprimanded her for feeling so complacent about her song’s quality.
He cleverly offered himself to train her for the improvement of her singing. He reassured her that his training will make her a great singer.
She was further flattered and impressed. She thanked him for discussing her singing with her. She said he was Mozart who had come from heaven to train her in singing.
The shrewd frog cunningly broached the subject of the fee he would charge from her for the training he would give her.
This meeting with the frog inspired the nightingale. With her natural talent and inspiration she sang and became a great success. Everyone liked her songs and singing.
She became very famous far and wide. (The frog had not yet begun his training.) The shrewd frog commercialized her singing and started earning money from her shows.
(Note: The first half of the answer is in the first question; and the other half of the answer is in the second answer below)
Next morning it was raining and the wicked frog began imparting vocal training to the nightingale. The nightingale objected to it, but the frog coaxed her to come out and sing even in that bad weather.
He asked her to put her scarf and sash to be safe of the rain. Then he made her sing on different scales.
He made her practice the basics for six consecutive hours in the rain. This tired her and adversely affected her voice and melody.
Since she was exhausted and worn out with the long tiring practice, she felt she would not be able to sing her natural songs. But at night she became normal. That night titled birds attended her concert and they were impressed with her singing.
These are the titled birds who attended the nightingale’s concerts with their wives.
The wives of the titled birds were fascinated with the nightingale’s singing magic. During the interval they just talked about her talent. The frog overheard them and was quite sad. He was happy also as he was earning a lot of money from the nightingale’s concerts.
The frog was using psychological ploys to get rid of the nightingale. In spite of knowing she was a prodigy singer, he would scold her to discourage her and dampen her spirits.
He unnecessarily and redundantly found fault with her singing and songs. He himself knew nothing about singing and was teaching her the grander singing skills.
Since he had nothing substantial to teach her; he vaguely asked her to make her songs trendier for her audience by giving more artistic touches to the songs she sang. Not only was he minting money from her shows, he was also charging a massive tuition fee and advertisement expenses from her.
The incessant nagging and fault finding discouraged the nightingale. She became depressed and dejected. She began singing sad songs. No one liked her songs now.
The audience began dwindling away. This had a more depressing and negative effect on the nightingale. She was trapped in a vicious circle. The situation she was in was became worse from bad.
The dwindling audience led to nosedive in frog’s earning money from the nightingale’s concerts. He blasted on her and vented all his anger and frustration on her. He asked her to regain her lost passion for singing. He advised her to do so by puffing up her lungs with air.
Hopeless, sad, dejected, not knowing what to do; the poor bird followed the cunning frog’s advice. She puffed up her lungs with as much air as she could. Her vein burst and she died.
The frog felt so good on her death as he succeeded in getting rid of his arch-rival who was a stupid bird. She had no self-belief and self-faith. She let herself be exploited by a shrewd and cunning frog.
The frog’s halcyon days of yore were back. He sang rivallessly in the Bingle Bog. He now sang the nightingale’s songs. But he could not imbibe her melodious voice. The Bog creatures again bought cotton to stuff their ears with.