fuzzbean.net

The gym bag says it all. I have a gym bag--vintage 1980s--with the Fraggles on it. I love the Muppets, and I am not afraid to pump iron while singing "Down in Fraggle Rock."

The love extends beyond Fraggles. It extends to The Storyteller and to The Muppet Movie and to Labyrinth (even though the goblins scared me so much I had to leave the first time I saw it) and to Gonzo's Weird Stuff. Heh. Gonzo's Weird Stuff taught me Jabberwocky, which got me such major points with my eighth-grade English teacher. But that's another story.

And the most favorite of favorite of Muppet movies is The Frog Prince. Robin is just horrifically cute in it. He is so small, and green, and exasperated.

And in the most favorite of favorite scenes, topping even "Sweetums lay your ugly head" and "It's ever so jolly just being a frog", is the popover scene.

Some background is in order for those of you that do not immediately collapse in a fit of laughter at the mere word "popover".

Oh my god. Popover. Popover!

The evil witch has bespelled Melora, the princess and rightful heir to the kingdom, so that she swaps the first sound of every word. The evil witch has enchanted Prince Robin and turned him into a stone or a log.... or maybe....Sir Robin....the FROG! The evil witch has convinced the King that she is his long-lost unknown twin sister and is rapidly positioning herself to usurp Melora's rightful place on the throne. The evil witch has a lot of enemies.

The king, however, is rather dimwitted, and is not one of them. Even the pointy teeth do not clue him into the witch's witchiness.

So. The popover scene. Melora has brought her new little froggy friend, the only person who can understand her, to dinner with her. The topic of conversation turns to the succession to the throne, and thence to the evil person who put a curse on Melora, thereby preventing her from queeing the bean.

Robin! Dear green Sir Robin! Cries out with all the furor of his little froggy being! "I know! I know who enchanted Melora!"

The witch grabs a popover and shoves it into Sir Robin's little froggy mouth. "Have a popover, froggy!"

Melora jumps up from the table and points vigorously at the witch. "Tant Amenella! Tant Amenella!"

Sir Robin reels back, chokes, and spits out the popover. "It was Aunt..."

"Have a popover, froggy!"

"Tant Amenella! Whit as Tant Amenella!"

"Aunt Tamenella put the spe..."

"Have a popover, froggy!"

Popovers are flying everywhere. Robin is spitting them out and the witch is shoving them back in--two at once! How many popovers can a tiny Muppet's mouth hold? Melora is gesticulating and shouting and Robin is shouting and over everything--"Have a popover, froggy!"

And of course, now, whenever someone is too loud at the dinner table--"Have a popover, froggy!"

J does not understand my hilarity at popovers. I guess you kind of had to grow up with it.

Why do I tell this story? Because J's mom (P) just went to Vermont and bought me (wait for it)

(keep waiting)

(just a minute longer)

popover mix.

I dissolve into giggles. People (P presents this to me while she has guests over, thank you muchly, P) look at me like I'm crazy. J decides that I am laughing because the ingredients for this popover mix are unbleached flour and salt. Other people begin to dissolve into giggles, mostly because I am laughing so hard that I cannot explain about the witch and the popovers and the froggy.

Oh god. The witch and the popovers and the froggy.