The Frog That Wished to Be As Big As the Ox
Fable de Jean de la Fontaine
 Fables of la Fontaine > Book I > The Frog That Wished to Be As Big As the Ox |
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| The tenant of a bog, An envious little frog, Not bigger than an egg, A stately bullock spies, And, smitten with his size, Attempts to be as big. With earnestness and pains, She stretches, swells, and strains, And says, "Sister Frog, look here! see me! Is this enough?" "No, no." "Well, then, is this?" "Poh! poh! Enough! you don't begin to be." And thus the reptile sits, Enlarging till she splits. The world is full of folks Of just such wisdom;— The lordly dome provokes The cit to build his dome; And, really, there is no telling How much great men set little ones a-swelling. |
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