19. The Tale of the Boy Called Frog

At the boy’s request, Severian reads from the Wonders of Urth and Sky.

Early Summer and Her Son:  On a far-off world, Early Summer is married to a jealous king.  She plucks a red flower, and it impregnates her.  She bears a son, Spring Wind, who leads an army to war.  Spring Wind visits Urth and couples with a virgin priestess, who conceives twins.  The babies are placed in a basket and set in a stream.

How Frog Found a New Mother:  The basket drifts along dangerous waters but the children survive.  Two peasant women find the boys, take them in, and name them Frog and Fish.  Frog and his adoptive parents are attacked by a tiger.  The boy escapes and wanders into a nearby den of wolves.  The tiger pursues Frog and demands that the wolves relinquish him.