A frog, watching a bullock grazing nearby, resolved to match his girth and height. She was an envious frog. See how she puffs and swells and strains with all her might.
"Come, tell me quickly, dear, am I as big as he?" she asks a froggy friend.
"Oh no, my dear, not nearly."
"Now just you watch me stretch! Look close, and tell me clearly. Well, then! You see? I'm filling out?"
"It doesn't seem much to me."
"Well—now?"
"Just like you were at first."
At last, her wild attempts passed the bounds of nature. She never swelled to the bullock's size, but strained so hard that she cracked and burst.
She's not the first, and not the last. No wonder, when the little shopkeeper tries to match the splendor of the Provost's board, or Hodge the farmer's son spends money like a lord.