The Frogs & the Ox

One day, an enormous Ox wandered down to a reedy pool to quench his thirst. As he lumbered into the water, his heavy hooves splashed and crushed a tiny Frog into the mud beneath him.

Later, when the old Frog noticed that her youngest was missing, she asked the other little Frogs, "What has happened to your brother?"

"A giant, fearsome creature!" one of the Frogs exclaimed. "It stepped on him with one of its enormous feet!"

"Was he really that big?" asked the old Frog, puffing herself up slightly. "Was he as big as this?"

"Oh, much bigger!" the little Frogs cried out in unison.

The old Frog puffed herself up even more, her chest expanding with pride. "Surely, he wasn’t bigger than this?"

But the young Frogs insisted that the creature was far, far larger. Determined to prove she could match the size of the Ox, the old Frog kept puffing herself up bigger and bigger—until suddenly, with a loud pop, she burst.