Book II: The Two Bulls and the Frog
Two bulls engaged in shocking battle,Both for a certain heifer's sake,And lordship over certain cattle,A frog began to groan and quake.'But what is this to you?'Inquired another of the croaking crew.'Why, sister, don't you see,The end of this will be,That one of these big brutes will yield,And then be exiled from the field?No more permitted on the grass to feed,He'll forage through our marsh, on rush and reed;And while he eats or chews the cud,Will trample on us in the mud.Alas! to think how frogs must sufferBy means of this proud lady heifer!'This fear was not without good sense.One bull was beat, and much to their expense;For, quick retreating to their reedy bower,He trod on twenty of them in an hour.
Of little folks it oft has been the fateTo suffer for the follies of the great.
Words in this poem
- shocking a.
- Causing to shake or tremble, as by a blow; especially, causing to recoil with horror or disgust; extremely offensive or disgusting.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Two Bulls and the Frog 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 II: The Two Bulls and the Frog, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-4.html, id L28236.
Form and metre
Book II: The Two Bulls and the Frog is 22 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 73% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCCDDEEFFGG--HHII battleA · sakeB · cattleA · quakeB · youC · crewC · seeD · beD · yieldE · fieldE · feedF · reedF · cudG · mudG · suffer · heifer · senseH · expenseH · bowerI · hourI
- 2 AA fateA · greatA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Two bulls engaged in shocking battle, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Both for a certain heifer's sake, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And lordship over certain cattle, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| A frog began to groan and quake. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| 'But what is this to you?' | 6 | ······ |
| Inquired another of the croaking crew. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| 'Why, sister, don't you see, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The end of this will be, | 6 | ······ |
| That one of these big brutes will yield, | 8 | ········ |
| And then be exiled from the field? | 8 | ···/···· |
| No more permitted on the grass to feed, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| He'll forage through our marsh, on rush and reed; | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| And while he eats or chews the cud, | 8 | ········ |
| Will trample on us in the mud. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alas! to think how frogs must suffer | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| By means of this proud lady heifer!' | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| This fear was not without good sense. | 8 | ········ |
| One bull was beat, and much to their expense; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For, quick retreating to their reedy bower, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘/ |
| He trod on twenty of them in an hour. | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| Of little folks it oft has been the fate | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To suffer for the follies of the great. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
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.