no, I run up to their beds and bite the tip of their fingers.

Then I take their ham and no pain overtakes the man,

no one wakes from sleep when I bite him.

But I do really fear two things over the whole earth:

the hawk and the weasel who bring me great grief

and also the grievous mousetrap where a deceptive fate awaits me.

But I fear the weasel more than anything, that beast who is best

at ferreting a hole-dweller out of his hole.

I don’t eat radishes, cabbage, and pumpkins;

and I don’t munch on pale beets or parsley.

Such things are the delicacies of pond-dwellers like you.”

Grinning at this, Bellowmouth responded:

“Friend, you brag too much about your belly. We also

have many marvels to see in the pond and on the shore.

Zeus gave the frogs an amphibious realm

to dance upon the earth or cover our bodies in water

and to inhabit homes divided doubly in parts.

If you wish to learn about these things too, it’s simple.

Climb on my back, hold on tight so you don’t slip

and then you can come happily to my home.”

Thus he spoke and offered up his back. Crumbthief hopped on quickly,

holding his hands around Bellowmouth’s delicate neck with a light embrace.

At first he was rejoicing as he looked upon the neighboring harbors

and delighted in Bellowmouth’s swimming. But, then, when he was

splashed by the roiling waves, he poured forth a flood of tears

and reproached his useless decision. He tore at his hairs,

squeezed his feet around his stomach and his heart

shook at the novelty and he wished to get back to land.

He wailed dreadfully under the oppression of chilling fear.

First, he set his tail into the water as though guiding a rudder,

and prayed to the gods to make it to the shore.

He was splashed again by the murky water, and kept shouting out for help.

Then he made a speech like this as he proclaimed:

“Didn’t the bull carry his cargo of love in this way

when he led Europa over the waves to Krete?

Such is the way this frog set out and led a mouse to his house

after raising his pale body on the white wave.”

Suddenly, a water snake appeared, a bitter sight to both,

holding his throat up straight out of the water.

When he saw him, Bellowmouth went under water, considering not

what sort of friend he was about to abandon to death.

He submerged in the depth of the pond, and avoided black death.

But the mouse, as he was let go, fell backward into the water,

clenched his hands, and squeaked as he was dying.

Several times he went down below the water, and several times

he kicked and came back up. But it was not possible to ward off fate.

His wet hair put more weight on him,