Folk Tale

Two bulls and the frog

Translated From

Les Deux Taureaux et une Grenouille

AuthorJean de La Fontaine
Book TitleFables Choisies
Publication Date1668
LanguageFrench
LanguageEnglish
OriginFrance

Two bulls began a fight to see which would possess A heifer-and the empire, too. A frog made noises of distress. "But what have they to do with you?" Inquired the croaker's croaking friend. Replied the first, "But, can't you guess? It's all too clear how this will end: The loser trotting off to exile from the fields, The victor chasing after him until he yields All claims of being king upon the grassy plain. And then when he comes here among our reeds to reign, We will be trampled in the muck before he's done! This war that lust for Madam Heifer has begun Will end by crushing all our nation, one by one." His apprehension was correct- The losing bull ran off to cower Down in the swamp, with the effect Of squashing twenty frogs per hour. Alas! All ages demonstrate That small folk are destroyed by passions of the great.


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