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.
