A funny new fable about artistic creation and chasing fame, imagined by award-winning author Caroline Adderson, and inspired by one of Japan’s most famous haikus, “The Old Pond.”

Bashō, a 17th-century poet on an evening walk, stops to rest next to a murky old pond. Here, readers may expect he will encounter the frog that inspired his renowned poem:

Old pond—

Frog jumps in

Splash!

But before the frog came the mosquito, who smells blood: “My life?” she whines, “It could fill a book of poetry!” And before the mosquito came the lily, who perfumes the air, hoping to be immortalized in a poem. And before the lily came the carp, who flutters her tail in the poet’s face.

In a twist that would have delighted Bashō, a Zen Buddhist, the fame-seeking creatures cause only their own suffering. Instead, the inspiration for Bashō’s poem comes from a frog that only wants a morning swim. Splash!