The Frog and the Ox


034. THE FROG AND THE OX An Ox, grazing in a swampy meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of young Frogs, and crushed nearly the whole brood to death. One that escaped ran off to his mother with the dreadful news; “And, O mother! ” said he, “ it was a beast—such a big four-footed beast!—that did it.”
“Big?” quoth the old Frog; “how big? Was it as big” — and she puffed herself out to a great degree — “as big as this?”
“Oh!” said the little one; “a great deal bigger than that.”
“Well, was it so big?” and she swelled herself out yet more.
“Indeed, mother, but it was; and if you were to burst yourself, you would never reach half its size.”
Provoked at such a disparagement of her powers, the old Frog made one more trial, and burst herself indeed. [more info]

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