Lily McGriffin and How Lily Pads Came to Be
Copyright ©2012 by Nonno Vecchio
All Rights Reserved
Once upon a time, there was a space-time traveler named Lily McGriffin. Lily was Harvey Rumplemeyer's little sister and she liked to travel through the universe going forwards and backwards in time. One day while she was traveling through space and time, she encountered a really bad meteor storm. Fortunately she had her shields up however, she still got bumped around pretty bad. Well when she finally stopped, she was in a part of the galaxy that she had never been to before. In fact, she had been knocked off course and into the past before our earth was born! So she decided to look around and to explore and to see what she could find. Well wouldn't you know it? She came across a road sign. So she decided to follow it. And that's how she ended up on the planet Frogtopia.
Welcome to Frogtopia
Well never having been to Frogtopia before, Lily landed in the most opportune spot she could find. And that was in the parking lot of the Frogtopian Lilyputian mall! Yes siree, Lily parked her Space-Time Machine right next to the mayor's car. And then she turned on the Blend-Me-In-Orometer so that her Space-Time Machine looked just like all the other vehicles in the parking lot. The only thing she had to worry about now was finding her Space-Time Machine when she was finished.
Well, Lily forgot she was still wearing her Space-Time suit, so she still looked kind of funny anyway and people knew that she wasn't "from around these parts." Oh well, so much for being incognito…. Anyway, Lily was attracting quite a crowd so she stopped, took off her helmet, and introduced herself and boy were they surprised! You see, everybody on the planet Frogtopia looked like frogs! They had great big frog heads and skinny human arms and loooooonnnngggg frog legs! They had never seen a human being before and of course Lily is a human being.
“Hrumph, hrumph!” said the mayor who walked up to Lily. “What have we here?”
“Well,” said Lily, “my name is Lily McGriffin. And I am a space-time traveler. Pleased to meet you!” And with that, Lily stuck out her hand and shook the Mayor's hand.
“Well I don't know what you are,” said the mayor, “but it's Frogs-a-bration day and you're not dressed properly. Constable!"
“Now wait a minute!” said Lily, “I've only just gotten here and you're calling the Constable? Why what kind of hospitality is that?" she asked the mayor.
And as she asked the mayor this question, she poked him in the chest three times - poke, poke, poke. You see, Lily even though she was a short woman, was still taller than all the citizens on Frogtopia. In fact, she was twice as tall as they were small. The truth was, the mayor and all the people were afraid of Lily.
Lily Invents Something Special
Well, eventually Lily made friends with everybody there including the mayor, and became well-liked by the entire town. As time went on, Lily even became a favorite of all the children. She would go shopping with them. She would go to church with them. She would even go swimming with them! And that's how she discovered what they needed most. It was on one of these swimming outings, that Lily realized the little children were not swimming at all. Those that tried, would sink to the bottom of the pond like a stone. Thankfully, they were frogs so they could stay underwater a long time without having to breath air so Lily had plenty of time to save them. But still Lily became concerned because that's pretty dangerous. And that's when she hit upon the idea she had.
You see, she looked around, and looked around, and looked around some more, and found just what she needed. So, taking a pair of laser scissors from her Space-Time Machine, she went over to one of the plants that were growing nearby and she cut huge shapes out of the leaves. She then took those cutouts, dropped them in the water, picked up the little frogs, and put them on these little pads that she had made. Everybody loved it! In fact, most exclaimed and asked each other why they had never thought of doing something like that themselves. So happy were the people with this new invention, that they called them Lily McGriffin pads in honor of their inventor! Eventually, plants being plants, the pads put down roots and anchored themselves to the bottom of the pond. And they grew, and grew, and grew some more! And of course, over time the name got shortened from Lily McGriffin pads to just lily pads.
Well, eventually the Earth got made, and frogs came from all over the universe to visit. And that included the frogs from Frogtopia! And of course they brought their lily pads with them. Some of the frogs decided to stay here on earth rather than head back home to Frogtopia. And of course that meant they had to grow lily pads so that they would still have their comfortable water cushions upon which to float. And that's how we here on earth ended up having Lily pads growing in our ponds and streams... All thanks to Lily McGriffin!
THE END