After we found a biggie who agreed to take us to the Kwandruma Dukas, we knew we would be able to buy some strong black thread to use for fishing line. Our parents had sent spending money, which the dorm parents kept in our envelopes. We went to ask for some and for permission to go to the Dukas. We were delighted when they said yes and got out the envelopes, writing down on the outside just how much they gave us and what was left.
We thought earthworms would be the best bait. The orange worms we found in the mud near the cow water trough behind the barn were as thin as thread. They were too small. Maybe they weren't earthworms anyway. We decided to look for grasshoppers on the way down the hill to the dam. The frogs seemed to like best the small green or brown ones that could fly, but they were the hardest to catch. The colorful grasshoppers were easiest to catch, but they smelled bad and spit brown juice on your hand when you caught them.
There was a Black Wattle forest partway down the steep hill on the way to the dam. It was a good place to find a pole. Each of us cut down a slender sapling with his pocket knife on our trip.
We didn't have any hooks. The grasshoppers just slipped off the bent pins when we tried those before and besides, it was hard to tie the thread to the pin. Though we could tie the thread to safety pins, they weren't much better for holding the grasshopper bait.
On our way down the hill after dinner, we caught some grasshoppers and found our poles, just as we had planned. Peter ran ahead, then came rushing back to where we were still trimming the branches off our poles with our pocketknives.
"Hey you guys, come see! There is a guy lying on the grass down there with nothing on! His cloths are all spread out on top of the bushes drying in the sun." He laughed, "I guess he is drying in the sun too!"
Of course we rushed down. We would trim our poles down at the dam.
When we got there, a man was rapidly climbing up the hill on the other side. His light blue pants were still dark blue at the waist. I guess they hadn't quite gotten dry. We had almost caught a man washing and drying the only cloths he had. He probably had had a bath in the pond too; tomorrow was Sunday.
With all our noise there weren't any frogs on the surface of the water that we could see. Maybe it was because of the guy taking his bath. We found a tiny piece of yellow Sunlight soap. I had seen the guys at the market saw Sunlight bars of soap into small pieces with a piece of nylon string. I think this piece of soap started as a fourth of a bar. Dressing so quickly, he must have forgotten it where he left it drying on the old wooden tub. He must be quite poor to have only that many cloths and such a small piece of soap. I found a big leaf and put the soap on it, off to one side, where he could find it if he came back.
We trimmed our poles and tied thread to the poles and around the middle of the grasshoppers. We were ready. Now all we had to do was wait in the sun on the soft Kikuyu grass on top of the dam. Pretty soon the frogs would come up again to bask in the warm sun.
When a frog surfaced we would plop a grasshopper almost on top of him. He might try to swallow it whole immediately. If a frog did, all you had to do was lift him out of the water. Some of the frogs weren't quite so dumb and would let it go and fall back into the water, but most of them we could just grab as they hung from the thread before they let go.
The frogs tried to push out of our hand when we grabbed them. They brought their back feet all the way to their head and pushed as hard as they could to slip out of your hand. If they got free, they would jump in a series of crooked hops, trying to scramble back into the safety of the muddy water. But we could easily catch them again when they came up for air. Even those that get away will take the bait again. They never learn.
After butchering one frog, we had plenty of material to use as bait. They weren't smart. They just ate because they were hungry not knowing that there was a string tied to the bait. They didn't even learn when the frog beside them was caught, not even if part of that frog was the bait the next time. They didn't even learn when they were caught once, but got away. They were really dumb!
Is it possible that we might be a little like those frogs? If it is something we want, do we just grab it even if there is a string tied to it? Are we too dumb to let go even when we find there is a string pulling us out of our safe environment and away from God? Even when a friend we know well is pulled away, can't we learn? What if he becomes the bait? If we got caught once, aren't we smart enough to run away? Running away is a good idea like the Bible says, "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
There are lots of things other kids want us to do with them, things we know God doesn't want us to do, something like the bait offered to the dumb African Mud Frogs. They were safe in the water until they swallowed the bait and wouldn't let go.
If we stay close to God He'll help us know the right way to go. We need to get out of any situations that can trap us into doing wrong.