The Frog in the Well 井底之蛙, jǐng dǐ zhī wā,

"The Frog in the Well" 井底之蛙, jǐng dǐ zhī wā, a well-known ancient fable

The Frog in the Well

Long ago, there was a small green frog who lived at the bottom of a deep, narrow well. This frog had never left the well, not even once in his whole life.

Every day, the frog would swim in the small pool of water at the bottom. He would catch tiny bugs to eat and sit on the wet stones. When he looked up, he could see a small circle of blue sky far above him. This was all the frog knew about the world.

The frog was very proud of his home. "I am the king of this well!" he would say to himself. "I have everything I need right here. This is the most wonderful place in the whole world!"

One day, a sea turtle was passing by the well. The turtle was tired from a long journey, so she stopped to rest. She heard the frog talking loudly from the bottom of the well.

"Hello down there!" called the turtle. "What are you doing?"

The frog was excited to have a visitor. "I live in this amazing well!" he shouted up. "It's the best place ever! The water is perfect for swimming, and I have plenty of food. You should come down and see how great it is!"

The sea turtle smiled kindly. "Your well sounds nice," she said. "But let me tell you about where I come from. I live in the great ocean. It is so big that you cannot see the other side, even on the clearest day. The water is deeper than a thousand wells like yours. There are colorful fish, coral reefs, and underwater mountains. The waves can be gentle or powerful, and the water stretches as far as you can imagine."

The frog listened, but he didn't believe the turtle. "That's impossible!" he said. "Nothing could be bigger than my well. You must be making this up!"

The turtle tried to explain more about the ocean, but the frog just shook his head. Finally, the turtle said goodbye and continued on her way.

The frog sat back down on his stone, feeling smug. "Silly turtle," he thought. "She doesn't know anything. My well is clearly the biggest and best place in the world."

And so the frog continued to live in his small well, never knowing about the vast world that existed beyond the tiny circle of sky above him.

The Lesson

This story teaches us that we shouldn't think we know everything based only on our limited experience. Just like the frog, we might miss out on amazing things if we refuse to listen to others or explore beyond what we already know. The world is much bigger and more wonderful than we might imagine from our small corner of it.