Frogs and Toads in Art and Storytelling

In stories, mice are to rats as frogs are to toads. Unlike hares and rabbits, toads and frogs are actually the same category of animal, but one has garnered a better reputation. I’ve heard ‘toad’ used as an insult, but I’ve only ever heard ‘froggy’ to describe the shape of someone’s mouth. Neither is especially complimentary, but frogs seem cuter.

The Real Difference Between Frogs And Toads

Wheras the categories of ‘mice’ and ‘rats’ encompass many different small mammals who may or may not be closely related to each other, toads are a subcategory of frog.

Generally speaking, whether we call an amphibian a frog or a toad will depend on a few visible markers:

	MORE FROGGY	MORE TOADLY
SKIN	moist and slimy	dry and bumpy
BODY	long and lean	short and squat
EGGS	in a mass	in a chain
HABITAT	wetter	drier
MOVEMENT	leapy	crawly

So how is this distinction useful for storytellers making use of anthropomorphised amphibians?

European Fire-Bellied Toad and Yellow-Bellied Toad from Brehms Tierleben Vol 1, illustrator Joseph Fleischmann, Leipzig, Vienna Bibliographisches Institut 1920

Shadowland mag frog by A. M. Hopfmüller

Poor Cecco by Marjery William Bianco illustrated by Arthur Rackham Murrum and Toad the Night-watchman

I’m thinking slime. I think flies, quick movements combined with general sloth. I think of The Frog Princess, literally and metaphorically ‘slimy’, imposing himself on a young woman knowing full well she doesn’t want him anywhere near her.

Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (1888-1960) Australian illustrator

Olga Kondakova - Korolevich — Olga Kondakova – Korolevich

Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900-1931 USA) frog — Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900-1931 USA)

New German fairytale treasure 7. Special issue of the WEEK Storybook Publisher- August Scherl G.m.b.H. (Berlin Germany; 1905)

A Maxfield Parrish cover for William Randolph Hearst’s magazine for July 1912 frog

Edward Frederick Brewtnall – The Princess and the Frog Prince

The Princess Frog. 1956. Artist Nika Goltz. The frog in this fairy tale is a bit of a trickster. But then, he’s not really a frog but a prince. These stories must exist to coax daughters into marrying whoever is chosen for them, regardless of physical attraction. I suspect a lot of these men chosen for girls were much older, to boot.

The Quack Frog

Toads As Mark Of Healthy Boyhood

Especially in nineteenth and twentieth century children’s books, boys and frogs are linked. The painting by Dirk Sargeant below is an excellent visual depiction of what I’m talking about:

The boy takes a natural and mischievous delight in these disgusting creatures, usually while a disapproving girl or woman looks on. In Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White wrote a brother (Avery) who is the stereotypically perfect representation of rural boyhood — part of that requires a fascination with frogs.

Though the famous nursery rhyme below doesn’t mention frogs and toads exactly, they fit into the same category as snails:

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
  Snips and snails
  And puppy-dogs’ tails
That’s what little boys are made of
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
  Sugar and spice
  And everything nice [or “all things nice”]
That’s what little girls are made of

Toads are basically gross-out material, related to Bakhtin’s ideas about bodily discomfort.

George William Willis - Leap Frog — George William Willis – Leap Frog

Frank Beard (American, 1842-1905) Illustrator and cartoonist. “What may happen when little boys play leap-frog too much.”

The Posh Dandy Toad

I believe the underlying idea in this archetype is that the ugly middle-aged man tries to improve himself by dressing in a way his gentlemanly salary allows. The juxtaposition is the joke, and another take on ‘making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’ or ‘lipstick on a pig’. The best-known example of this kind of toad is probably Toad from The Wind In The Willows, published 1908. The illustration below is also from around that time.

A well dressed toad. Drawing by G. Hope Tait, c1900

Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Jeremy Fisher was published in 1893, and it may have been Potter who ushered in the age of the well-dressed toad in children’s stories. Her publishers weren’t confident a slimy amphibian could be empathetic, so Potter was required to compensate for Jeremy’s ugliness by painting unusually beautiful backgrounds. It was Potter’s book which proved even a toady type thing can be sympathetic.

The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat published 1914 then 1942

L. Leslie Brooke (1862–1940) illustration from A Roundabout Turn by Robert H. Charles, Frederick Warne & Company, Ltd., 1930

FROGS AS MULTITUDES

Like cats and rats, frogs are sometimes depicted in great numbers. When frogs and toads have a bumper breeding season, they really have a bumper breeding season.

The Concert of Frogs from the poem Liliana 1907 written and illustrated by Apel Les Mestres, Catalan poet and illustrator

WHAT DID AESOP HAVE TO SAY ABOUT FROGS AND TOADS?

Aesop’s Fables London Adam & Charles Black 1912 Artist - Charles Folkard - The Proud Frog — Aesop’s Fables London Adam & Charles Black 1912 Artist – Charles Folkard – The Proud Frog

Cute Frogs

Make any slimy thing cuter by giving them clothes. Extend cuteness further by depicting them in mid-action, putting on those clothes, behaving like humans. The cutest thing you can do with a frog is to make it behave like a child human.

Fritz Baumgarten (1883 – 1966) German illustrator

Frog's Outing — Frog’s Outing — a Japanese picture book depicting a quirky, likeable frog character. Likeable frogs tend to have human eyeballs. Amphibian eyes are inherently off-putting to humans, as they look like the eyes of snakes.

By Mien Visser-Düker, (1881-1961) with Music by Maria van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen, (1885-1980) and Drawings by Leo Visser, (1880-1950). Nuts Publisher Zalt-Bommel - Jan Nieuwenhuyzen, 1917 insects lizards — By Mien Visser-Düker, (1881-1961) with Music by Maria van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen, (1885-1980) and Drawings by Leo Visser, (1880-1950). Nuts Publisher Zalt-Bommel – Jan Nieuwenhuyzen, 1917 insects lizards

Richard Scarry (1919-1994) Illustration for "The rooster struts" 1963 frogs — Richard Scarry (1919-1994) Illustration for “The rooster struts” 1963 frogs

Childcraft The How and Why Library (Volume 1) - Poems and Rhymes 1979 Illustration by Charley Harper — Childcraft The How and Why Library (Volume 1) – Poems and Rhymes 1979 Illustration by Charley Harper

L. Leslie Brooke, an English artist who worked primarily as a children’s book illustrator frogs — L. Leslie Brooke, an English artist who worked primarily as a children’s book illustrator

The Princess and the Frog, Arthur Rackham, 1909 (illustration for The Frog Prince by Brothers Grimm)

I'm a Frog Elephant and Piggie — I’m A Frog by Mo Willems

Christmas Party with a wealthy Family of Toads 1886 Pepe A Christmas Story by Theodor Kittelsen

an old Larkin Advertising Card for 'Handkerchief Soap' 1882 — an old Larkin Advertising Card for ‘Handkerchief Soap’ 1882

The Duck Tale by Virginia Bennett. Illustrated by E. Stewart. London – Ernest Nister New York – E. P. Dutton & Co. .c.1908.

Paul Lothar Müller (1869-1956), ' Frog Concert ' (Frog Concert), ' The Watchbox ', 1909 — Paul Lothar Müller (1869-1956), ‘ Frog Concert ‘ (Frog Concert), ‘ The Watchbox ‘, 1909

Aunt Friendly’s Picture Book – 1870’s THE FROG WHO WOULD A WOOING GO Illustrator- Joseph Kronheim

Art by Lou Mayer Puck Magazine woman on lilypad

Janusz Stanny - The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen frog — Janusz Stanny – The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen

DIE GESCHICHTE VON DER KLEINEN SCHILDKRÖTE UND DEN GOLDFINKEN (1963) Eberhard Binder frogs — DIE GESCHICHTE VON DER KLEINEN SCHILDKRÖTE UND DEN GOLDFINKEN (1963) Eberhard Binder

FROGS AS AGILE ACROBATIC CARNIVALESQUE CHARACTERS

Racey Helps (1913-1970), postcard The Astonished Angler

My Head-to-Toe Book by Jean Tymns, illustrated by Tibor Gergely (1974) frog — My Head-to-Toe Book by Jean Tymns, illustrated by Tibor Gergely (1974)

According to a Menominee Native American story, the reason frogs are more vocal in the spring is because they are mourning those among them that did not survive the winter.#SuperstitionSat pic.twitter.com/h9ggrEke5M
— Fabulinus (@Fabulinus6) March 20, 2021

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Header illustration: Frederick Stuart Church (1842–1924) ~ Frogs and Mosquitos summer concert ~ Harpers