The Sun and the Frogs (Book VI)

Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day, / The people drown'd their care in drink; / While from the general joy did Aesop shrink, / And show'd its folly in this way. / 'The sun,' said he, 'once took it in his head / To have a partner for his bed. / From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs, / Up rose the wailings of the frogs. / "What shall we do, should he have progeny? " / Said they to Destiny; / "One sun we scarcely can endure, / And half-a-dozen, we are sure, / Will dry the very sea. / Adieu to marsh and fen! / Our race will perish then, / Or be obliged to fix / Their dwelling in the Styx! " / For such an humble animal, / The frog, I take it, reason'd well. '[1]

[1]: There is another fable with this title, viz., Fable XXIV., Book XII. This fable in its earlier form will be found in Phaedrus, I.6.