The Frog and the Ox
Aesop's Fables · 1 min read
A small frog, watching a great ox graze nearby, grew envious of his enormous size and asked his mother if he too could grow that big. His mother, amused, said perhaps, with enough effort, and the frog immediately began puffing himself up as large as he could.
"Am I as big as the ox now, Mother?" he asked. "Not even close," she replied. He puffed himself up even further, straining with all his might. "Now, Mother? Surely now?" Still far from it, she told him gently, growing worried at how hard he was straining.
Determined not to give up, the frog puffed himself up one final time with everything he had — and burst completely, having tried to become something his own small body was never meant to be.
Moral of the story
Trying to become something you are fundamentally not can destroy you entirely.