THE OX AND THE FROG

Two little Frogs were playing about at the edge of a pool when an Ox came down to the water to drink, and by accident trod on one of them and crushed the life out of him. When the old Frog missed him, she asked his brother where he was. “He is dead, mother,” said the little Frog, “an enormous big creature with four legs came to our pool this morning and trampled him down in the mud.” “Enormous, was he? Was he as big as this?” said the Frog, puffing herself out to look as big as possible. “Oh! yes, much bigger,” was the answer. The Frog puffed herself out still more. “Was he as big as this?” said she. “Oh! yes, yes, mother, MUCH bigger,” said the little Frog. And yet again she puffed and puffed herself out till she was almost as round as a ball. “As big as…?” she began—but then she burst.

公牛和青蛙

有两只小青蛙在池塘边玩耍，这时一只公牛到池塘边饮水，一不小心踩到了一只青蛙身上，把他给踩死了。青蛙妈妈发现孩子不见了，问活下来的青蛙他的兄弟去了哪里。小青蛙说：“妈妈，他死了。今天早晨，一个有四条腿的庞然大物来我们池塘，把他踩到了烂泥里。”“庞然大物？他有这么大吗？”青蛙妈妈说着把自己的身体鼓起来，鼓到尽量大。结果得到的回答是：“比这可大多了。”青蛙妈妈又让自己鼓胀了一些。“他有这么大吗？”她问。“哦！有的，有的，妈妈，比这大多了！”小青蛙回答。青蛙妈妈一次次地让自己鼓胀起来，直到她圆得像个球一样。“有这么大……”她开口问道，然后她便爆裂了。