Bondo the Frog was the best chef in the whole swamp, and all the toads and frogs of the region enjoyed coming to her very select restaurant. Her ‘Flies in spicy bug sauce’ and her ‘Caramelized dragon flies wings with honey of bee’ were the kind of delicacies that every self-respecting frog should try; and that made Fran feel truly proud.

One day, Dandi came to her restaurant, ready for a nosh. Dandi was a great big toad, and certainly wasn’t the brightest. When Bondo’s fine creations were brought before him he complained, saying that that wasn’t food, and that what he really wanted was a dragonfly burger. Bondo came out of the kitchen to see what the problem was, and dandi told her that these dishes weren’t good enough for - and certainly wouldn’t fill - a Smooth Newt. This made bondo so offended, and livid, that she went to the kitchen, came back with a frying pan, and whacked Dandi squarely on the forehead.

A slight fight occurred. Even though Bondo realized she should have controlled her temper, and she kept asking Dandi to forgive her, the toad was so angry that he said he could only forgive her if she handed him the frying pan so he could hit her back.

Everyone tried to calm Dandi down, knowing full well that, given his strength, he could easily crack little Bondo’s head open with that frying pan.

Dandi would not accept an apology, and Bondo felt awful for having bashed him, so she tried everything. She gave him a special cream for bruises; she poured him an exquisite pond water liqueur. Even better than that, she made him a... beautiful dragonfly burger! But Dandi the Toad still insisted he would not be satisfied until he got to return the blow he had received. It had reached the stage where he was almost getting out of control.

Then a very old toad entered the restaurant, shuffling along with the help of two crutches. Wait Dandi, - said the old toad -you can give her a blow after I’ve broken your leg. Remember that you are the reason why I have to walk with these crutches.

Dandi didn’t know what to say. He recognized the old toad. It was Norbert, his old teacher. When Dandi was small, Norbert had saved him from a bunch of young hooligans. In the process, Norbert had lost a leg. Dandi remembered that it had all happened because he had been highly disobedient, but he had never given a thought to Norbert until now...

Dandi now realized he was being very unfair to Bondo. Everyone, including himself, made mistakes sometimes. And if we are to return blow for blow, wound for wound, all we are doing is prolonging the damage. So, even though his head still hurt and he thought bondo had made quite a remarkable mistake with that frying pan, seeing her feeling so sorry, and doing everything she could to put things right, dandi decided to forgive her.

Apology accepted, they spent the rest of the evening laughing at what had happened, and enjoying wonderful dragonfly burgers. And everyone heartily agreed that that was a rather better idea than getting into problems with pans.

Moral of the story

The law of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” solves nothing. What does solve things is knowing how to forgive.