Section 81
The Frogs Asking for a King explained simply
Aesop's Fables by Aesop
Original excerpt
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Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to to ask him to give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request, cast a log into the pool where they lived, and said that that should be their King. The Frogs were...
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Public-domain original
Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to
rule over them: so they sent a deputation to to ask him to
give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request, cast
a log into the pool where they lived, and said that that should be
their King. The Frogs were terrified at first by the splash, and
scuttled away into the deepest parts of the pool; but by and by, when
they saw that the log remained motionless, one by one they ventured to
the surface again, and before long, growing bolder, they began to feel
such contempt for it that they even took to sitting upon it. Thinking
that a King of that sort was an insult to their dignity, they sent to
Jupiter a second time, and begged him to take away the sluggish King
he had given them, and to give them another and a better one. Jupiter,
annoyed at being pestered in this way, sent a Stork to rule over them,
who no sooner arrived among them than he began to catch and eat the
Frogs as fast as he could.
Public-domain original text shown for study context. Underlined terms can be tapped for simple reader notes.
What happens here
Frogs ask for a king, reject a harmless one, and receive a dangerous one.
Why this scene matters
This fable warns that restless demands for stronger rule can bring worse authority.
Characters in this scene
- Frogs Asking for a King: A central figure in the fable’s conflict and lesson.
Simple story version
The frogs want a ruler. They mock the harmless first king, so Jupiter sends a second ruler who eats them.