# The Ox and the Frog explained — Aesop's Fables

> Chapter companion for Aesop's Fables by Aesop.

## What happens

A mother frog, after learning that her son was crushed by an ox, tries to inflate herself to match the ox's size in a misguided attempt to comprehend the threat, ultimately bursting from her own pride and folly.

## Themes in this chapter

### Pride and Folly

The mother frog's attempt to inflate herself to the size of an ox exemplifies the destructive nature of pride and the folly of trying to be something one is not.

### Appearance vs. Reality

The frog's puffed-up appearance is a deceptive attempt to match the ox's reality, ultimately leading to her demise when the illusion cannot be sustained.

## Character check-ins

### The Frogs

Two little frogs play at the pool's edge; one is crushed by the ox. The mother frog, in her grief and pride, attempts to inflate herself to match the ox's size and bursts.

### The Ox

The ox inadvertently crushes one of the little frogs while drinking from the pool, setting off the mother frog's fatal attempt to compare herself.

## Key lines

> 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.

While two young frogs played near a pond, an ox accidentally stepped on and killed one of them as it came to drink.

_Sets up the inciting incident of the fable._

> 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.

The mother frog kept inflating herself, asking if she was as big as the ox, until she became round like a ball and finally burst mid-question.

_Climax of the fable, illustrating the consequence of pride._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters/the-ox-and-the-frog
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters