The Frogs who wished for a King – Aesop’s Fables
Aesop’s Fables has a large number of stories and some of them such as the Red riding hood, the honest woodcutter and many more are well known across the world. The story of the “The Frogs who wished for a King” also has other names and is called as “The Frogs who desired a King” or “The Frogs begging for a King”. It is the story of a few silly frogs who begged a lion for a king.
Story:
Once upon a time, there lived a big Family of frogs in a pond. There was no king and hence they spent all their time arguing with one another. They had so much freedom but they spent entire days croaking and fighting with each other.
They tried to hold elections so many times. It never worked since they would not listen to each other. They would never accept one of the frogs as their leader. So they called the Lion to be their leader.
The Frogs said, “Dear Lion, we wish to have a leader who lives among us and rules us and takes care of our daily quarrels.”
The Lion thought, “Hmmm. If I become their king, I would be stuck here day and night taking care of their silly fights. I would never have time to rule the kingdom.”
He announced, “By tomorrow morning, you shall have a king.”
The next morning, the frogs heard a huge splash and they woke up. A huge log was in the middle of the pond with a crown on top.
The frogs shouted, “All hail King Log!”
The log would just sit and not do anything. The Frogs were very happy. Their king log was very peaceful and they continued to do whatever they wanted. Soon the fights and the quarrels started again.
They started to use the log to dive into the water and the older frogs used to climb there to smoke their pipes. The Frogs became very angry asked the Lion again to elect a new leader.
The Lion got very angry and said, “Oh. So you want a new leader who is stronger and stricter?”
The Frogs said, “Yes. We want a leader who we are afraid of!”
The Lion asked a crane to go and live with the Frogs as their king. The crane was a very different king. If any frogs quarrelled, he would eat the two up saying, “Better end the quarrel early by eating the two.”
The Frogs became very scared of the crane and asked the lion to take the crane away.
The Lion laughed and said, “Are you not content? I thought you wanted a leader who was not peaceful and whom you feared. Well, now you can only blame yourselves for getting whom you asked for.”
What is the moral of the story?
The moral of the story “The Frogs who wished for a King” is “Be sure you can better your condition before you seek to change.” The alternative moral is “The grass always looks greener on the other side”
Other stories which you can read
| The Dog and the Hides |
| The Cock, The Dog and the Fox |
| The Farmer and the Snake |
| The Farmer and the Stork |
| The Cat and the Birds |
Questions on “The Frogs who wished for a King“
- Who are the main characters of the story?
- Why were the crabs unhappy and always fighting?
- Who was the first king?
- Did the frogs like the log?
- Who was the second king?
- Explain is the moral of the story?
Answers:
- The main characters of the story are some Frogs, a lion, a heron and a log.
- A big Family of frogs lived in the pond. There was no king and hence they spent all their time arguing with one another. They had so much freedom but they spent entire days croaking and fighting with each other.
- A huge log was in the middle of the pond with a crown on top. This was the first king.
- The log would just sit and not do anything. The Frogs were very happy. Their king log was very peaceful and they continued to do whatever they wanted. Soon the fights and the quarrels started again. They started to use the log to dive into the water and the older frogs used to climb there to smoke their pipes. The Frogs became very angry asked the Lion again to elect a new leader.
- A crane lived with the Frogs as their king. If any frogs quarreled, he would eat the two up saying, “Better end the quarrel early by eating the two.”
- The moral of the story “The Frogs who wished for a King” is “Be sure you can better your condition before you seek to change.” The alternative moral is “The grass always looks greener on the other side”
The Frogs who wished for a King – PDF
Looking for the free downloadable PDF version of “The Frogs who wished for a King” short story in English? If so, you’ve come to the right place. You can click on the link below to download the free story in PDF version format.
