The Richest Frog in the world

There was once a frog that lived in a lake. One day in the morning the frog left the water and he
found a 50-cent coin. He exclaimed, “I am rich! I am rich! I have 50 cents! In the whole world
which other frog has as much money as I do.” Have you ever seen a frog with money? He was
probably the richest frog in the whole world. He had 50 cents. One day he was sitting on top of
his 50-cent coin and he was bloating with pride. “ Ah! Ah! I have it! I am rich! So now, let me do
something for my fellow frogs. Let me uplift all my fellow frogs! I will be known as great leader of
the frogs. People will praise me. I will be the king of frogs, and I must do something for them.”

He thought of the most important problems the frogs were facing, “Every morning the elephant
comes here and bathes in the lake and he disturbs the frogs. I will not tolerate this anymore! Now
I am rich! The richest frog in the world will not tolerate this injustice from the elephant!” Just then
the king’s elephant was being brought down by his mahout. So the frog confronted the elephant
turned his head to see who was making this noise. The frog cried out, “Elephant! Stop! It’s me!
It’s me! The richest frog in the world! Stop!” But the elephant did not hear the frog. Then the frog
jumped from his 50-cent coin before the elephant to stop him from going to the lake. But he was
so small that the elephant stepped on him, and the richest frog in the world was killed. This story
was told by Srila Bhakti Siddanta Saraswati Thakur, to illustrate how a person can become very
proud of a little material opulence and in his pride, he can lose perspective of the reality of life.