Once upon a time, deep in the middle of a warm, squelchy green marshland, there lived a great community of frogs. Now, these frogs had a wonderful life. They had no bosses, no rules, and no bedtime. They were completely free to govern themselves, which meant they spent their days swimming, catching juicy flies, and taking long naps on the lily pads.
But all this freedom had spoiled them. Because they never had any real problems to solve, they grew incredibly bored. They did nothing all day but sit about puffing out their green throats and croaking in a grumpy, half-hearted way.
“Croak… I’m so bored. Croak… nothing exciting ever happens here,” muttered an old frog named Barnaby.
The frogs decided they wanted a dramatic change. They no longer wanted a quiet, peaceful life. They wanted a government that could entertain them, with all the grandeur and glitz and spectacle of royalty. They wanted a mighty ruler who would make them feel properly governed.
“No weak, half-hearted leadership for us!” the young frogs croaked, splashing the water.
So they sat down and wrote a grand, formal petition, and sent it up into the clouds to Jupiter, the mighty ruler of the gods, begging him to send them a powerful king.
The Arrival of King Log
Up in the heavens, Jupiter read the petition and shook his head. He saw perfectly well what simple, foolish, ungrateful creatures the frogs were. But just to keep them quiet, and to let them think they had a royal ruler, he decided to grant their wish in a rather funny way.
Jupiter reached down to the earth, took hold of a massive, heavy tree log, and hurled it out of the sky.
SPLASHAAAAASH!
The log hit the centre of the marsh with a terrifying roar, sending waves crashing through the lily pads. The frogs shrieked in absolute terror.
“Ribbit! Hide! Run for your lives!” they cried.
They scrambled away as fast as their webbed feet would carry them, diving deep into the mud and hiding among the tall green reeds. They lay there trembling, quite convinced that their new king was a fearsome, world-crushing giant.
For hours, the marsh was completely silent. The frogs peeked out through the grass at their new ruler.
But the giant did not move. It did not roar. It just floated.
Slowly, a brave little frog swam out and touched it. Then another hopped up on top of it. And in no time at all the frogs discovered how wonderfully tame and peaceful King Log really was. Within a week the younger frogs were using the log as a diving platform, doing backflips into the water, while the older ones treated it like a town hall, sitting on the bark all day and complaining loudly up to Jupiter about how boring their new government was.
“This king is lazy!” they croaked. “We wanted a king with real power!”
A Different Sort of Ruler
Jupiter grew tired of the frogs’ constant whining. To teach the foolish creatures a lesson they would never forget, the ruler of the gods decided to give them exactly what they had asked for.
This time, he sent a crane to be king of Frogland.
The crane was a majestic bird with long elegant legs, a graceful neck, and a very grand posture indeed. The frogs gathered at the water’s edge and cheered.
“Look at his royal stature! Look at his dignity!” they croaked happily.
But King Crane proved to be a very, very different sort of ruler from old King Log.
The crane did not sit still, and he was certainly not peaceful. He looked down at his new subjects, his sharp eyes flashing, and realised that his new kingdom was made entirely of delicious snacks.
With a lightning-fast SNAP of his long sharp beak, King Crane snatched up a frog and swallowed him in one gulp.
Then he took a long, royal stride through the water — SNIP! SNAP! GULP! — swallowing up the poor frogs to the right and to the left.
The Bitter Lesson
The marsh turned in an instant from a playground into a place of pure panic. The frogs swam for their lives, crying out in mournful, terrified croaks. They realised what absolute fools they had been to trade a peaceful life for a dangerous show.
Hiding deep in the mud and weeping, they begged Jupiter to take away the cruel tyrant before they were all destroyed.
But up in the clouds, Jupiter only boomed with deep, thunderous laughter.
“How now!” cried the god, and his voice rattled the sky. “Are you not yet satisfied? You turned away peace because you were bored, and you begged for a powerful ruler. You have exactly what you asked for, and so you have only yourselves to blame for your misfortunes.”
And the poor frogs were left to dodge the sharp beak of King Crane, wishing with all their hearts for the sweet, quiet, beautiful days of old King Log.
The Moral of the Story: Be sure you can better your situation before you set out to change it. It is easy to complain about what we have when life is easy — but if we rush into a big change without thinking, we may find we have traded a small boredom for a very large disaster. Be grateful for peace.