Jean de LA FONTAINE

The Frogs Who Ask for a King

The Frogs, getting tired
of the democratic state,
By their cries did so much
That Jupin submitted them to Monarchic power.
There fell to them from Heaven an all-peaceful King:
This King, however, made such a noise when he fell
That the marshy people,
Very stupid and very fearful people,
went to hide under the waters,
In the rushes, in the reeds,
In the holes of the swamp,
Without daring to look for a long time in the face
The one they believed to be a new giant;
But it was a Soliveau,
Whose gravity first scared
Who to see him venturing
Dared to leave his den.
She approached, but trembling.
Another followed her, another did the same,
There came an anthill;
And their troop at last became familiar
Until jumping on the King's shoulder.
The good Sire suffers it, and always keeps quiet.
Jupin soon has his brains broken.
Give us, says these people, a King who moves.
The Monarch of the Gods sends them a Crane,
Who bites them, who kills them,
Who swallows them at his pleasure,
And Frogs to complain;
And Jupin to tell them: What! your desire
By his laws does he think he binds us?
You had to first
Guard your Government;
But, not having done so, you had to suffice
May your first king be good-natured and gentle:
With this one be satisfied,
For fear of meeting a worse one.