Book XII: The Sun and the Frogs
Long from the monarch of the starsThe daughters of the mud receivedSupport and aid; nor dearth nor wars,Meanwhile, their teeming nation grieved.They spread their empire far and wideThrough every marsh, by every tide.The queens of swamps--I mean no moreThan simply frogs (great names are cheap)--Caball'd together on the shore,And cursed their patron from the deep,And came to be a perfect bore.Pride, rashness, and ingratitude,The progeny of fortune good,Soon brought them to a bitter cry,--The end of sleep for earth and sky.Their clamours, if they did not craze,Would truly seem enough to raiseAll living things to mutinyAgainst the power of Nature's eye.The sun, according to their croak,Was turning all the world to smoke.It now behoved to take alarm,And promptly powerful troops to arm.Forthwith in haste they sentTheir croaking embassies;To all their states they went,And all their colonies.To hear them talk, the allThat rides upon this whirling ball,Of men and things, was left at stakeUpon the mud that skirts a lake!The same complaint, in fens and bogs,Still ever strains their lungs;And yet these much-complaining frogsHad better hold their tongues;For, should the sun in anger rise,And hurl his vengeance from the skies,That kingless, half-aquatic crewTheir impudence would sorely rue.
Words in this poem
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- rashness n.
- The quality of state of being rash.
- ingratitude n.
- Want of gratitude; insensibility to, forgetfulness of, or ill return for, kindness or favors received; unthankfulness; ungratefulness. [F. ingratitude, L. ingratitudo. See Ingrate.]
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- promptly adv.
- In a prompt manner.
- forthwith adv.
- Immediately; without delay; directly.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- kingless a.
- Having no king. F. Lieber.
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book XII: The Sun and the Frogs is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of La Fontaine, Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, the Elizur Wright translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jean de La Fontaine, Book XII: The Sun and the Frogs, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/12-24.html, id L28450.
Form and metre
Book XII: The Sun and the Frogs is 39 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-ABBCDCDC--EEFF-EGGHHI-I-JJKKLMLMNNOO stars · receivedA · wars · grievedA · wideB · tideB · moreC · cheapD · shoreC · deepD · boreC · ingratitude · good · cryE · skyE · crazeF · raiseF · mutiny · eyeE · croakG · smokeG · alarmH · armH · sentI · embassies · wentI · colonies · allJ · ballJ · stakeK · lakeK · bogsL · lungsM · frogsL · tonguesM · riseN · skiesN · crewO · rueO
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Long from the monarch of the stars | 8 | ···/···· |
| The daughters of the mud received | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Support and aid; nor dearth nor wars, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Meanwhile, their teeming nation grieved. | 8 | /··/˘/˘· |
| They spread their empire far and wide | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through every marsh, by every tide. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The queens of swamps--I mean no more | 8 | ········ |
| Than simply frogs (great names are cheap)-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Caball'd together on the shore, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And cursed their patron from the deep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And came to be a perfect bore. | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Pride, rashness, and ingratitude, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The progeny of fortune good, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Soon brought them to a bitter cry,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The end of sleep for earth and sky. | 8 | ········ |
| Their clamours, if they did not craze, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Would truly seem enough to raise | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| All living things to mutiny | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Against the power of Nature's eye. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| The sun, according to their croak, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Was turning all the world to smoke. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| It now behoved to take alarm, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And promptly powerful troops to arm. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Forthwith in haste they sent | 6 | //···· |
| Their croaking embassies; | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| To all their states they went, | 6 | ······ |
| And all their colonies. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| To hear them talk, the all | 6 | ······ |
| That rides upon this whirling ball, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of men and things, was left at stake | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the mud that skirts a lake! | 8 | ········ |
| The same complaint, in fens and bogs, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Still ever strains their lungs; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And yet these much-complaining frogs | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Had better hold their tongues; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For, should the sun in anger rise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hurl his vengeance from the skies, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That kingless, half-aquatic crew | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Their impudence would sorely rue. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.