This fable tells us the
story of some frogs who lived in a pond. Those frogs had the freedom to do
whatever they pleased and had no ruler to order them around. But the fable
tells us that all this freedom had spoiled them, so much so that they began asking
from Jupiter for a king that would rule them as they deserved. With pomp and
show and the right display of royalty.
Jupiter heard their pleas
and to please them and keep them quiet he threw down the pond a huge log, which
fell into the water with a great splash. The frogs were at first terrified and
hid themselves. But they soon realized that king Log was tame and peaceable.
And so, feeling contempt for the appointed king, they started complaining to
Jupiter for the government.
Jupiter now angry and
impatient with them sent down a new king. A Crane. This king was different from
the passive Log, as he seized the frogs and ate them up. The remaining frogs
ran away in fright and begged Jupiter to take away king Crane because he was a
cruel tyrant.
But Jupiter scorned them
saying that they got what they asked for and so they had only themselves to
blame for their misfortunes.
I gave to this fable the
following moral lesson "Take care in what you ask for - you might get more
than you bargained for".
I think this fable is trying
to teach us not to be greedy but to appreciate everything good we have. Otherwise, we
might end up like those frogs who weren’t satisfied with having their freedom and
ended up losing not just that but their lives as well.
Note: Jupiter is the roman
name for the Greek god Zeus, and I’ve seen those two names being used interchangeably
in the English translation of Aesop’s Fables.
Listen to the fable as i narrated it here