El Coqui pronounced kokee is a tiny tree frog from Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican folklore and even some scientists believe that El Coqui is endemic, that is, it can only live in Puerto Rico. I remember in sixth grade, my history professor told me that some scientists had taken El Coqui out of Puerto Rico for reproduction in other warmclimate countries...and it died every time. Whether El Coqui is endemic or not we do not know for sure. What I recall are the fresh evenings in the country, the soft trade winds blowing, dark skies with bright stars, sitting on a veranda and listening to the sweet music: coqui, coqui, coqui. It seemed like the whole world had stopped just to let the coqui sing. The legend goes that once upon a time, Ignacio, the native Puerto Rican parrot and King of the Forest, called all the animals for a meeting. He thought that the animals had gotten lazy from enjoying the Trade Winds and getting suntans. He called for a race among the best of each animal with the winner receiving a special gift. All the animals kept lounging around except the tree frogs. They were training and working hard, encouraging Pepito, their leader, with their silent cheers for tree frogs could not emit a sound. They knew that since they were the smallest animals in the forest, it was going to be hard for them to win. Well, Pepito won the race...and Ignacio blessed the tiny tree frogs with the ability to sing. Now they sing for all Puerto Rico.

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