Holy Guardian Frogs!

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From today's Metro (page 16, if you're checking), a story from Thailand:

"A frog which guards a holy site is close to death - because worshippers have been rubbing talcum powder into him. The visitors hope the ritual will reveal the country's national lottery numbers. The frog lives next to a puddle, said to be Buddha's footprint..."

It goes on, but without explaining how the frog goes about guarding this site, why talc, how lottery numbers get into this, or indeed anything. Anyone got any possible explanations?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 19 September 2002 17:59 (twenty-three years ago)

No idea, but don't be surprised it involves an identical twin frog named Seth...

― mark p (Mark P), Thursday, 19 September 2002 18:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well obviously a pair of frogs would be a sensible choice to guard a holy puddle, and they could protect each other from talc while filling in their lottery tickets. That's just obvious, but we need an explanation involving just the one frog.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 19 September 2002 21:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know how long this has been going on, but since frogs breathe through their skin, as well as through their lungs (which are pretty rudimentary air-sacs in any case) I wouldn't thought it would live very long at all (ie, for a few hours after the talc-rubbing started). A thought has occurred to me...since all frogs look pretty much alike, maybe it's really a succession of frogs, with the monks(?) chucking talc-caked dead frogs in the bin (or burning them on the altar) then fishing replacements out of the local pond. Visitors would see an ill-looking frog, but not realise the one they saw next day was another specimen.

Maybe the frog is supposed to croak several times in succession to reveal the numbers (cf Djali's hoof in Notre Dame de Paris).

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 20 September 2002 07:25 (twenty-three years ago)

well at least the one is pretty likely to croak

― felicity (felicity), Friday, 20 September 2002 07:27 (twenty-three years ago)

haha, these foriegn cultures just do the craziest things. i bet they don't even have the internet

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Friday, 20 September 2002 07:55 (twenty-three years ago)

explanation: the metro is manned by a bunch of subversive jokers who spend all day making up strange tales.. there's abt 3 of these a week. i used to collect them! my fave, from 2 years ago:

"MAN HOLED UP FOR 12 YEARS

a chinese man has been arrested after hiding in a hole for 12 years because he was wanted for stealing £9.40. the man allegedly took the cash from a house in the country of Xinyuan in 1987. he evaded police by hiding under a wardrobe and coming out only at night."

― bob zemko (bob), Friday, 20 September 2002 08:51 (twenty-three years ago)

They totally don't have the internet!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 20 September 2002 08:55 (twenty-three years ago)

they don't have the internet, and yet we make fun of them on that very same internet. now that my friends, is irony.

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Friday, 20 September 2002 09:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Thank you Alanis! Thank you India!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 20 September 2002 09:04 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, boxedcubed we got you the first time. this thread is hardly about steamrollering "foriegn" culcha, so be a sanctimonious prick elsewhere.

― bob zemko (bob), Friday, 20 September 2002 09:29 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm just totally misunderstood man, the world is so fake

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Friday, 20 September 2002 18:57 (twenty-three years ago)

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