Chapter 33 frog

frog Akutagawa Ryunosuke Beside my house, there is an old pond where there are many frogs. Around the pond, there are dense reeds and calamus.On the other side of the reeds and calamus, tall poplar forests are dancing vigorously in the wind.Farther away, there is the silent summer sky, where there are often clouds like broken glass, shining brightly.And all of this is reflected in the pond, which is more beautiful than the real thing. The frogs in this pond croaked endlessly every day.At first glance, it was just a croaking sound.In reality, however, intense debate was taking place.Frogs were not only good at argument in Aesop's time.

① Aesop was an ancient Greek fable writer in about the sixth century BC. His fables were processed by later generations and published in the form of poems or prose, which have become popular today. At that time, there was a frog on the reed leaf, posing as a university professor, and said: "Why is there water? It is for our frogs to swim. Why are there insects? It is for our frogs to eat." "Yes! Yes!!" The frogs in the pond croaked.The surface of the pond, which reflects the sky and the vegetation, is almost completely filled with frogs. Of course, the voice of approval is also very loud.Just at this time, a snake fell asleep at the root of the poplar tree, and was awakened by the noise of quack quack quack quack.So he raised his scythe-like neck, looked towards the pond, and licked his lips sleepily.

"Why is there land? It is for the growth of vegetation. Then, why is there vegetation? It is for shade and shade for our frogs. Therefore, the whole earth is for our frogs!" "Yes quack! Yes quack!" The snake, when it heard this approving voice for the second time, suddenly straightened its body like a whip, and slid leisurely into the reeds, its black eyes shining brightly, and peered intently into the pond. Case. The frog on the reed leaf is still eloquent with its mouth open. "Why is there a sky? It is to hang the sun. Why is there a sun? It is to dry the backs of our frogs. Therefore, the whole sky is also for our frogs! Water, vegetation, insects, land, sky , the sun, in short, everything is for us frogs. There is no room for any doubt about the fact that everything is for me. When I explain this fact to you, I would like to express my gratitude to the people who created it for us. The God of the entire universe, I sincerely thank you! The name of God should be praised!"

The frog looked up at the sky, rolled its eyeballs, then opened its mouth wide and said, "God's name should be praised..." After the words were lost, the snake's head stretched forward as if thrown out, and in a blink of an eye the eloquent frog was caught in the snake's mouth. "Quack quack, oops!" "Quack quack quack!" "Oops! Quack, quack, quack!" Amidst the screams of the frogs in the pond, the snake bit the frog and hid it in the reed.The intense noise after that was probably unprecedented since the pond was created. Amidst the noise, I heard the young frog crying and saying: "Water, vegetation, bugs, land, sky, and sun are all for us frogs. So, what is the snake for? The snake is also for us frogs." Is it?"

"Yes! The snake is for us too. If the snake doesn't come to eat, the frogs will multiply. If they multiply, the pond—the world will inevitably become narrower. Therefore, the snake will eat our frogs. The eaten frogs will also grow. It can be said that it is a sacrifice made for the happiness of the majority of frogs. Yes, the snake is also for us frogs! Everything in the world is frogs! The name of God should be praised!" I heard an old frog reply. Written in September 1917 Translated by Lu Yuanming