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The Frog
in the Well
There was a frog that lived in a
shallow well.
" Look how well off I am here
! " he told a big turtle from the Eastern Ocean. "
I can hop along the coping of the well when I go out, and
rest by a crevice in the bricks on my return. I can wallow
to my heart's content with only my head above water, or
stroll ankle deep through soft mud. No crabs or tadpoles can
compare with me. I am master of the water and lord of this
shallow well, What more can a fellow ask ? Why don't
you come here more often to have a good time ? "
Before the turtle from the Eastern
Ocean could get his left foot into the well, however, he
caught his right calw on something. So he halted and stepped
back then began to describe the ocean to the frog.
" It's more than a thousand
miles across and more than ten thousand feet deep. In
ancient times there were floods nine years out of ten yet
the water in the ocean never increased.
And later there were droughts seven
years out of eight yet the water in the ocean never grew
less. It has remained quite constant throughtout the ages.
That is why I like to live in the Eastern Ocean. "
Then the frog in the shallow well
was silent and felt a little abashed.
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abashed |
If you
are abashed, you feel embarrassed and ashamed. |
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