The Sun And The Frogs.

Long from the monarch of the stars The daughters of the mud received Support and aid; nor dearth nor wars, Meanwhile, their teeming nation grieved. They spread their empire far and wide Through every marsh, by every tide. The queens of swamps—I mean no more Than 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 raise All living things to mutiny Against 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 sent Their croaking embassies; To all their states they went, And all their colonies. To hear them talk, the all That rides upon this whirling ball, Of men and things, was left at stake Upon the mud that skirts a lake! The same complaint, in fens and bogs, Still ever strains their lungs; And yet these much-complaining frogs Had better hold their tongues; For, should the sun in anger rise, And hurl his vengeance from the skies, That kingless, half-aquatic crew Their impudence would sorely rue.