Gerard's Tale: Chapter the First

      Not far from here, in a quiet little swamp, there is a tiny little village. Now, one such as you or I might miss it, with our minds drifting between this thought and that, but rest assured: between the thickest of reeds and the patches of murky water, there the village lies, unknown to our kind since time immemorial. Or so it would remain, had it not been for a strange little fellow who sought to -- but I'm getting ahead of myself, for we have yet to meet him.
      For in this little village, in a small house of driftwood and pebble, there lived a small family of frogs. You may ask, "but how can this be? Frogs aren't social, nor do they build." And if you are, indeed, asking such questions, then perhaps this isn't a story for you, as they will but grow in number in time. Yet, despite the greatest of skepticism from our human minds, there the humble little cottage stood, as much within the village as in the marshy wilderness beyond.
      And it was here, perched upon the reed-shingled rooftop, the roar of dragonflies in the distance, that a young frog -- so young that he'd only just lost his tadpole's tail -- sat daydreaming. Not of exciting games of bulrush-ball or composing grand swamp-songs, like most young frogs in the village, mind you; for, had he been swept-up in those most common of dreams, we would not know his story now. Perhaps it had been growing-up so close to the wilderness just beyond the towering cattails, where ravenous water bugs dwell, or the stories of his great-grandfather, the intrepid explorer Leopold, that led his dreams elsewhere, to someplace far beyond the village's great green walls. Or, just perhaps, this was a frog born to a far greater destiny than any within his village could imagine, and if not born, then certainly chosen by him. But regardless of why, there the young frog perched, daydreaming of ancient treasures, monstrous foes, and the occasional maiden to be rescued.
      For Gerard knew that only one dream could ever sate him: that of adventure. And because of this, more than any other circumstance, is how we came to know his tale.