Key 11.
Perfect Balance.
The frog sat on the lily pad,
Unaware of the balance of forces keeping him there.
The curvature of the pad displaced just enough volume of water to buoy up the combined weight of the pad and the frog.
The balance was so fine that the surface tension of the water also came into play.
The frog always sat on that particular leaf because it seemed to be on the insect's flight path.
All he had to do was lash out his tongue and he'd get a meal.
He was also only three kicks of his strong back legs away from the shore where his favourite females hung out.
The frog,
You see,
Only had ever to make two choices.
Should he eat or should he reproduce?
That day for some reason he had ignored every fly that buzzed past him and the croaks of potential mates on the bank.
He just sat there and waited.
In the bushes,
The princess had been sitting watching the frog for an hour.
She saw him just sitting and glistening in the sun.
She saw that he didn't move once and eat a single insect.
She knew it had to be the one,
So she took off her shoes and waded into the water.
When a large shape entered the water and loomed towards it,
The frog normally only had one choice.
And that was to hop off the lily pad and swim away.
He chose to stay.
This convinced the princess even more that she'd made the right choice as she bent down over the frog to kiss him.
