An ox, grazing in a swampy¹ meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of young frogs, and crushed nearly the whole brood to death .One that escaped ran off to his mother with the dreadful news."and ,oh ,mother !"said he ,"it was a beast -such a big four footed beast!-that did it .""Big?" quoth the old frog , "How big? Was it as big" -- and she puffed² herself out to a GREat degree-"as big as this ?""oh!"said the little one ,"a great deal bigger than that .""well, was it so big ?"and she swelled³ herself out yet mere⁴ ."Indeed ,mother ,but it was ,and of you were to burst yourself you would never reach half its size."provoked at such a disparagement⁵ of her powers, the old frog made one more trial ,and burst herself indeed.

So men are ruined by attempting GREatness to which they have no claim.

一头牛在一快泥泞的草地上吃草，偶然把脚踏在一堆小青蛙当中，几乎把所有的幼蛙踩死。脱险的一个带着这可怕的消息跑到他母亲那里去了。"啊，母亲！"他说"是一只野兽-那样一只有四只脚的大野兽-踩的。""大吗？"老青蛙说。"多大？"她股足了气把自己胀得大大的说："他像这样的吗？""啊！"小 青蛙说，"比那大多了。""哦，有这么大吗？"她鼓着气胀地更大了。"真的，母亲，但确实如此，即使你胀破了自己，也不够他一半大。"老青蛙看到自己的力气受到轻视很是激怒，于是又鼓了一下气，果然这次胀破了自己。

妄自尊大的人必将自取灭亡的。