The Frog and the Rat by Jean de La Fontaine

Name: The Frog and the Rat
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

A well-fed rat strolling around a frog-pond is invited by a frog to dine at her home. She tempts him with promises of a pleasant bath, unusual sights, aquatic customs, flowers, rushes, reeds, and wonders he can later describe to his progeny. Since the rat is only a moderate swimmer, the frog ties her long paw to his and leads him to the lakelet. Once in the water, the frog tries to drag her guest beneath the surface, intending to make a meal of his sleek body. The rat invokes the gods, while his treacherous hostess mocks him; he struggles upward as she pulls downward. A hovering kite sees the drowning rat and carries him away, but the frog remains attached by the string. The kite happily gains a double meal, both flesh and fish. The tale concludes that even the best-designed deceit may injure its contriver, and perfidy often cheats its author of everything.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Animal Fiction · 613 words

First lines

They to bamboozle are inclined, / Saith Merlin,[1] who bamboozled are. / The word, though rather unrefined, / Has yet an energy we ill can spare; / So by its aid I introduce my tale. / A well-fed rat, rotund and hale, / Not knowing either Fast or Lent, / Disporting round a frog-pond went. / A frog approach'd, and, with a friendly greeting, / Invited him to see her at her home, / And pledged a dinner worth his eating, -- / To which the rat was nothing loath to come. / Of words persuasive there was little need: / She spoke, however, of a grateful bath; / Of sports and curious wonders on their path; / Of rarities of flower, and rush, and reed: / One day he would recount with glee / To his assembled progeny / The various beauties of these places, / The customs of the various races, / And laws that sway the realms aquatic, / (She did not mean the hydrostatic! ) / One thing alone the rat perplex'd, -- / He was but moderate as a swimmer. / The frog this matter nicely fix'd / By kindly lending him her / Long paw, which with a rush she tied / To his; and off they started, side by side. / Arrived upon the lakelet's brink, / There was but little time to think. / The frog leap'd in, and almost brought her / Bound guest to land beneath the water. / Perfidious breach of law and right! / She meant to have a supper warm / Out of his sleek and dainty form. / Already did her appetite / Dwell on the morsel with delight. / The gods, in anguish, he invokes; / His faithless hostess rudely mocks; / He struggles up, she struggles down. / A kite, that hovers in the air, / Inspecting everything with care, / Now spies the rat belike to drown, / And, with a rapid wing, / Upbears the wretched thing, / The frog, too, dangling by the string! / The joy of such a double haul / Was to the hungry kite not small. / It gave him all that he could wish -- / A double meal of flesh and fish.

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The Frog and the Rat is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Animal Fiction, Narrative Poetry, Allegory
Length: 613 words
Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Fable — The poem is a concise animal tale in which a frog's treachery brings punishment upon herself, ending with an explicit moral about deceit harming its contriver.
Didactic Literature — Its primary purpose is moral instruction: the narrative illustrates that perfidy and calculated deception may ruin the deceiver.
Animal Fiction — The principal characters are a rat, a frog, and a kite, all of whom act within an anthropomorphic moral narrative.
Narrative Poetry — The work tells a complete sequence of events in verse, using rhyme, rhythm, dialogue, action, and a final moral conclusion.