Aesop's Tales/The Frogs ask for a King

In the days of old splashing about as happy as they could be,free and easy,in a marsh with nearby ponds and pools,lived a folkdom of frogs who went about life without a care,beset by nobody. Brooks flowed quietly into the marsh and there food was found in fullness. Worms,spiders,and all kinds of smallish water beings teemed, and in the fresh and green, thickish reeds and weeds small fish swam. Notwithstanding their good speed and a life with unfettered freedom, the frogs yearned for a more tightly ruled and well-run way of life. To put it simply they wanted a wise king to rule over them.

To that end,gathering together they croaked loudly with a oneness, so much so the elders called upon Jove to send to them a king who would rule over them,bring fair laws and a well-run folkdom. There would be a line drawn between good and bad, right and wrong,and the rules of fair play. Woe betide the wrongdoer, but getting and goodname would follow the upright. The elders said to Jove, "Send a king to rule over us,to keep us on the right path and make our life fulfilled. It is only right for us to be ruled over by the gods of Heaven and the kings of Earth.

Jove, smilng at the simpleness of their asking, casted down with all his might,a great log that hit the fennish frogdom with an ear-pounding thud. All-fear was felt in every mote of the mind and body of these once easy-going frogs, who found themselves diving without heed in a last ditch try, to find safely in marsh's muddy depths. The dread kept them in awe for a while. But by and by,and one by one, they dared to come to the water's top to see their new king and bow before him. Soon they became aware that King Log was stockstill. Soon after, some of the bolder ones even dared to put their hands on him. Then all the frogs came and did the same; and some for sometime afterwards the frogs went about their daily business without caring even in the slightest for stillish King Log. Sometime afterwards, with their hearts still yearning strongly for a king to rule over them, they asked the elders once more to call upon Jove to send them another king to put an end to their masterless ways.