The Ox and the Frog

Aesop

Two little Frogs were playing about at the edge of a pool when an Ox came down to the water to drink, and by accident trod on one of them and crushed the life out of him.

When the old Frog missed him, she asked his brother where he was.

“He is dead, mother,” said the little Frog; “an enormous big creature with four legs came to our pool this morning and trampled him down in the mud.”

The frog puffed herself out

“Enormous, was he? Was he as big as this?” said the Frog, puffing herself out to look as big as possible.

“Oh! yes, much bigger,” was the answer.

The Frog puffed herself out still more. “Was he as big as this?” said she.

“Oh! yes, yes, mother, MUCH bigger,” said the little Frog.

And yet again she puffed and puffed herself out till she was almost as round as a ball. “As big as…?” she began… but then she burst.

 

From Aesop’s Fables: a new translation by V.S. Vernon Jones, with an introduction by G.K. Chesterton and illustrations by Arthur Rackham. 1912 edition. This work is in the public domain.