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The Coming of the Peepers

Ask any Cape Codder about peepers. He will probably inform you that they are “little frogs that come to life” early each spring â€” even as early as the first week of March and herald their awakening by making incessant peeping sounds.

The peepers’ chorus is gladly heard by everyone after winter’s weeks of cold and snow. It reminds us of the beautiful description of the coming of Spring, which is found in the Song of Solomon:

For, lo, the, winter is past, The rain is over and gone, The flowers appear on the earth, The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

The turtle has no voice, so later translators render the passage: “voice of the turtledove.” But the word might quite satisfactorily to us have been “peepers.”

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