The Frogs and the Ox

An Ox came down to a reedy pool to drink. As he splashed heavily into the water, he crushed a young Frog into the mud. The old Frog soon missed the little one and asked his brothers and sisters what had become of him.

“A great big monster,” said one of them, “stepped on little brother with one of his huge feet!”

“Big, was he!” said the old Frog, puffing herself up. “Was he as big as this?”

“Oh, much bigger!” they cried. The Frog puffed up still more.

“He could not have been bigger than this,” she said. But the little Frogs all declared that the monster was much, much bigger and the old Frog kept puffing herself out more and more until, all at once, she burst.

Do not attempt the impossible.

Moozie does not agree entirely with the “moral” of this fable. “Many things are truly impossible and it is futile to attempt them. But it may sometimes be worthwhile to attempt some ventures in spite of the risk of failure. The fact that a feat has never been accomplished before does not mean that it can not be achieved, but merely that it hasn’t yet been achieved. In fact, virtually every invention and discovery in history may have been thought to be impossible before someone who believed that it could be realized with a combination of time, patience, perseverance, creativity, teamwork and perhaps luck actually overcame the skeptics and was successful. Being kind to yourself, others, animals and Earth may mean reaching beyond what may currently be thought to be impossible.”