XXIV. The Proud Frog

When poor men to expenses run,

And ape their betters, they’re undone.

An Ox the Frog a-grazing view’d,

And envying his magnitude,

She puffs her wrinkled skin, and tries

To vie with his enormous size:

Then asks her young to own at least

That she was bigger than the beast.

They answer, No. With might and main

She swells and strains, and swells again.

“Now for it, who has got the day?”

The Ox is larger still, they say.

At length, with more and more ado,

She raged and puffed, and burst in two.

Riley