liver vested in white fat, or cheese just curdled from sweet milk, or delicious honey-cake which even the blessed gods long for, or any of all those cates which cooks make for the feasts of mortal men, larding their pots and pans with spices of all kinds.  In battle I have never flinched from the cruel onset, but plunged straight into the fray and fought among the foremost.  I fear not man though he has a big body, but run along his bed and bite the tip of his toe and nibble at his heel; and the man feels no hurt and his sweet sleep is not broken by my biting.  But there are two things I fear above all else the whole world over, the hawk and the ferret —­ for these bring great grief on me —­ and the piteous trap wherein is treacherous death.  Most of all I fear the ferret of the keener sort which follows you still even when you dive down your hole. (1) I gnaw no radishes and cabbages and pumpkins, nor feed on green leeks and parsley; for these are food for you who live in the lake.’

(ll. 56-64) Then Puff-jaw answered him with a smile:  `Stranger you boast too much of belly-matters:  we too have many marvels to be seen both in the lake and on the shore.  For the Son of Chronos has given us Frogs the power to lead a double life, dwelling at will in two separate elements; and so we both leap on land and plunge beneath the water.  If you would learn of all these things, ’tis easy done:  just mount upon my back and hold me tight lest you be lost, and so you shall come rejoicing to my house.’

(ll. 65-81) So said he, and offered his back.  And the Mouse mounted at once, putting his paws upon the other’s sleek neck and vaulting nimbly.  Now at first, while he still saw the land near by, he was pleased, and was delighted with Puff-jaw’s swimming; but when dark waves began to wash over him, he wept loudly and blamed his unlucky change of mind:  he tore his fur and tucked his paws in against his belly, while within him his heart quaked by reason of the strangeness:  and he longed to get to land, groaning terribly through the stress of chilling fear.  He put out his tail upon the water and worked it like a steering oar, and prayed to heaven that he might get to land.  But when the dark waves washed over him he cried aloud and said:  `Not in such wise did the bull bear on his back the beloved load, when he brought Europa across the sea to Crete, as this Frog carries me over the water to his house, raising his yellow back in the pale water.’

(ll. 82-92) Then suddenly a water-snake appeared, a horrid sight for both alike, and held his neck upright above the water.  And when he saw it, Puff-jaw dived at once, and never thought how helpless a friend he would leave perishing; but down to the bottom of the lake he went, and escaped black death.  But the Mouse, so deserted, at once fell on his back, in the water.  He wrung his paws and squeaked in agony of death:  many times he sank beneath the water and many times he rose up again kicking.  But he could not escape his doom, for his wet fur weighed him down heavily.  Then at the last, as he was dying, he uttered these words.