Vocal Frogs

Sarah once had a pair of stuffed animal frogs which, when their hands touched, sang Christmas carols in their hoarse froggy voices. In an attempt to entertain our toddler cousin Abby, we showed off their talents, expecting laughter. Instead, she grew pale, looked at the pair with horror, and ran downstairs to her parents, nearly in tears. Conducting experiments as she grew up, we introduced her to other, non-vocal stuffed animals but received a similar reaction. It is an odd child who does not trust real toys, instead favoring two-dimensional human and animal replicas in the form of televised cartoons.