Library:The Frog and the Ox

by Jean de La Fontaine

A frog an ox with envy saw,

Admired his wonderous size,

Staring with both her little eyes.

And murmuring at Nature's law,

Thought fit for larger bulk to beg,

Herself no bigger than an egg;

She laboured, stretched, and began to swell,

"Sister," she said, "now mark me well,

Is that enough?--tell me--pay I compare?"

"No, faith:"--"look flow?" "Not in the least"--"then there?"

"You don't approach is, sister." . . . "Then here goes!"

So swelled the silly thing, and burst amidst her throes.

Of just such fools, the world enough affords,

Cits buy and build to copy dukes and lords;

Each petty prince a monarch's pomp assumes,

Each count has pages strutting round his rooms.

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