Once upon a time, an old snake lived on a mountain. He had grown too old to hunt for food. But he had to eat something, so he decided to find some way to get his prey.
He went to a pond near the mountain. It was full of frogs. So, he pretended to be a saint and sat on the bank meditating. One of the frogs noticed him and was curious why he was not hunting frogs that day. The snake lied to him, “I have given up food. I was hunting a frog last night and chasing it, I ended up disturbing some hermits in their ritual prayers. The frog ran away but the hermits were in a state of confusion. In that chaos, I bit a hermit’s son and he died. The grief-stricken hermit cursed me that I would always serve frogs. They would ride on me and I could only eat what they offered me. I have come to serve you.”
The frog told this to the others till the story finally came to the ears of the king of frogs. The king came and met the snake and was sure he was speaking the truth. So, he rode on the snake’s back and so did the other frogs. Over the next few days, everyone had a lot of fun. Then the king found the snake slowing down. On asking him, he learnt that the snake had no food and was hungry. So, the king permitted him to eat the small frogs. The snake thanked him and began to eat the small frogs.
One day, the king frog overheard a conversation between the snake and a friend of his who had come visiting. The snake told his friend that he was simply putting on an act to be fool the frogs, so he could eat them. The king was horrified and asked the snake about it. But he managed to persuade the king with sweet words. The king and the other frogs continued to ride on the snake’s back and enjoy themselves.
Soon he had eaten all the small ones. If he asked the king frog again, there would be trouble. So, without telling the king frog, he began to eat the other bigger frogs too. The king frog was so busy enjoying himself that he failed to notice that the number of frogs in the pond was steadily getting lesser and lesser.
One day, all the frogs had been eaten and the only one left was the king frog. That day, the snake ate the poor silly king frog up too!
