Æsop's Fables (V. S. Vernon-Jones)/The Ox and the Frog

THE OX AND THE FROG

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.” “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.