An Ox, grazing in a meadow, chanced to set his foot on a young Frog and
crushed him to death. His brothers and sisters, who were playing near, at once
ran to tell their mother what had happened.
"The monster that did it, mother, was such a size!" said they.
The mother, who was a vain old thing, thought that she could easily make herself
as large.
"Was it as big as this?" she asked, blowing and puffing herself out.
"Oh, much bigger than that," replied the young Frogs.
"As this, then?" cried she, puffing and blowing again with all her might.
"Nay, mother," said they; "if you were to try till you burst yourself, you could
never be so big."
The silly old Frog then tried to puff herself out still more, and burst herself
indeed.
The Cat and the Mice
A certain house was overrun with mice. A Cat, discovering this, made her way
into it and began to catch and eat them one by one.
The Mice being continually devoured, kept themselves close in their holes.
The Cat, no longer able to get at them, perceived that she must tempt them forth
by some device. For this purpose she jumped upon a peg, and, suspending
herself from it, pretended to be dead.
One of the Mice, peeping stealthily out, saw her, and said, "Ah, my good
madam, even though you should turn into a meal-bag, we would not come near
you."
The Cock and the Jewel