29 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
29 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
THE OX AND THE FROG
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Once upon a time . . . a conceited frog never missed an opportunlty to show
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hls fnends how different he was, and how much better than everyone else. When
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folk were jumping, he always tried to do the highest jump, when it was a
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question of diving, he was first into the water. In other words, he had to be
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tops all the time. One day, a big ox carne to drink at the pond. Frightened,
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all the frogs hopped away to hide in the reeds, but when they saw that the ox
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was harmless, they came out again to watch the huge beast. "Isn't he
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whopping!" they exclaimed to each other. One frog then said: "It would take
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hundreds of frogs like us to make one of him!"
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Now, the conceited frog, far more scared than the others, had dived into
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the water at the sight of the ox. But a little later he returned and, after
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listening to his friends' remarks, he said: "He's certainly bigger than we
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are. But he's not enormous!"
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But nobody was paying any attention to the conceited frog, so he raised his
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voice . . . and puffing out his chest, announced: "I could easily become as
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big as that ox! Look!"
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The frogs began to smirk. "You're very little, far too little!" But the
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frog just blew himself out even more. "Now look," he whispered, as he tried
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not to lose air. His friends giggled. h "What about now?" he managed to gasp,
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as he blew some more. "The ox is much bigger," came the reply. The onceited
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frog made a last great effort: taking an extra deep breath, he blew himself up
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until . . . BANG! His skin burst! The astonished frogs saw their friend
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disappear from sight, for nothin was left of the conceited frog but scraps of
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green skin. The ox, who had raised his head when he heard the bang, went back
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to his drinking, and the frogs hopped away, remarking: "It dosn't do to
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become too swollen-headed . . ."
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