In a well there lived a very large family of frogs. The frog king was unhappy because his relatives always troubled him. He wanted to be rid of them.
One day, he saw a snake outside the well and, seeing him, an idea occurred to the frog king. “I think I’ll use him to kill my relatives,” he thought. So he told the snake that he wanted to be friends with him.
“With me?” asked the surprised snake, “But we are natural enemies. Why do you want to be my friend?”
“I want you to come and live in the well and destroy those who are troubling me so much,” said the frog king.
“And who is troubling you?” “My relatives,” replied the frog king.
The snake was growing old and thought he would go to the well. He would get a regular supply of food!
The frog king showed him the way to come down into the well and also showed him a dry gap in the bricks where he could live comfortably. The snake settled down quickly. He could eat the troublesome relatives of the frog king, so he had food always available.
But once he had eaten the troublesome relatives, he began to eat the others. When the frog king pleaded with him to stop and to leave the well, he said he would not. “You invited me here. I am your guest. It is your duty to care for me. If you don’t, I will eat all of you.”
The frog king watched helplessly as he saw all the members of his family being eaten up by the snake one after another. One day, he ate the frog king’s son. It was terrible. His wife wept and blamed the frog king for having brought this misery on them. “You are responsible for bringing that awful snake into the well. And now look what he has done!” she wailed.
Finally, only the frog king was left. Everyone else had been killed. But the snake expected him to provide food. The frog king was very unhappy. He should never have brought the enemy of his species into the well. Sadly, he left the well telling the snake that he was going to look for food.
He went away to a different well and settled down there. The snake waited for many days. Then he sent a lizard as a messenger to the frog king telling him to come back as he missed him. But now, the frog king had become wiser. He told the lizard that he would never come back! He had really learnt a lesson!
