Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl.
One was an optimistic soul.
But the other took the gloomy view.
“We’ll drown,” he lamented without much ado,
and with a last despairing cry,
he flung up his legs and said “Goodbye.”

Quote the other frog with a steadfast grin,
“I can’t get out but I won’t give in,
I’ll just swim around till my strength is spent,
then I’ll die the more content.”
Bravely he swam to work his scheme,
and his struggles began to churn the cream.

The more he swam, his legs a flutter,
the more the cream turned into butter.
On top of the butter at last he stopped,
and out of the bowl he gaily hopped.

Or another version:

Two frogs fell in a can of cream
Or so I heard it told
The sides of the can were shiny and steep
The cream was deep and cold.

O what’s the use, croaked frog number one
Too straight; no help’s around
Goodbye my friends, goodbye fair world!
And weeping still, he drowned.

But number two, of sterner stuff,
Dog-paddled in surprise.
And while he wiped his creamy face,
And dried his creamy eyes,

I swimm a while, at least, he said
Or so, I’ve heard, he said
It really won’t help the world
If one more frog were dead

An hour or two he kicked and swam
Not once he stopped to mutter.
But he kicked and kicked and swam
and kicked and hopped out via butter