The Frog and the Ox

A frog lived at the edge of a pond. One day a huge ox came to the pond to drink. The frog was amazed by the ox. "How big! How magnificent! I want to be like that too!"

He began to breathe in at once. He took a deep breath and swelled up. He asked his brothers: "Look, am I as big as the ox now?"

"No," said his brothers, "you are still very small."

The frog took another breath and swelled some more. "Now?"

"No, you still have a long way to go."

The frog stubbornly kept breathing in. He swelled, and swelled, and swelled. His eyes bulged, his belly was like a drum. "And now?" he said with difficulty.

At that moment... pop! The frog let out all his air at once, as if he had burst, and tumbled into the pond. His brothers ran and pulled him out of the water. The frog looked around, dazed.

The ox had watched all of this in silence. Then he said in a gentle voice: "Little frog, you are struggling to become an ox, but I have never once thought of becoming a frog. I cannot dive into the water, you can. I cannot jump, you can. Everyone is beautiful at their own size."

From that day on the frog never tried to puff himself up again. He became the best swimmer in the pond and the longest jumper. And whenever someone said "If only I were like so-and-so," he told them this story.