Lezlie C. Moralde

BSED 2-N

The Frog in the Well

                There was a frog that lived in a shallow well whose boasting to a turtle that lived in Eastern Ocean how well off he was there; he can hop along the coping of the well when he goes out, and rest by crevice in the bricks on his return. He can wallow to his heart’s content with only head above the water, or stroll ankle deep through soft mud. So in other words, the frog is bragging about the things he can do in this shallow well compared to the crabs or tadpoles. Before the turtle from the Eastern Ocean could get his left foot into the well, he caught something on his right claw, and halted and stepped back to describe the ocean to the frog. “It’s more than a thousand miles across and more than ten thousand feet deep. In ancient times there were floods nine years out of ten but the water never increased; there were droughts seven years out of eight yet the water in the ocean never decreased. It has remained constant throughout the ages.” Then the frog was silent and felt a little abashed with what he’s bragging about earlier.

            In this Chinese short story, I learned that bragging about something can do you no good but embarrassment and shame. Yes, I brag sometimes to my friends about the things I have sometimes and I feel superior in that moment, but when they start with theirs, I feel what the frog felt when the turtle told him about his life in the Eastern Ocean. I realized that what I experienced or have are nothing compared to them. They have more than I have but they’re just silent about it or they just keep it by themselves.

            I also learned that we should be humble in every way we can. Not having much allows you to appreciate what you do and not to take things for granted, like some spoiled brat or something. It could also gives us true friends that could accept us of what we only have, and what’s important is that the friendship, camaraderie, and experiences that we share with them.

            As what Criss Jami said in Electric Personality, “Man is not, by nature, deserving of all he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.” I think this quotation is somewhat connected to what I am saying above and also this quotation is applicable to the frog, to me, and to everybody.

JJJJ

Afro-Asian Literature