Short Stories » The Greedy Cobra and the King of Frogs

The Greedy Cobra and the King of Frogs - Panchatantra Stories for Kids

Froggy was the king of all frogs who lived in a well. However, his relatives used to treat him without any respect. One fine morning, he decided he had enough. So he left the well. After getting out of the well, he saw a cobra entering a hole. He thought that cobra could help him get revenge on his relative frogs. So, he went near his house and said: “Hello, I am Froggy, king of frogs”. The cobra remained silent. Froggy again said, “I want to be friends with you”. The cobra was surprised and said “I am your enemy, don’t you know? I love eating frogs! GO AWAY!!” Froggy was clever, he replied “I know of a well, full of frogs, lots of frogs to eat” The cobra was very surprised, so he asked “why do you want me to eat the frogs, they are your friends, I don’t understand.” Froggy replied, “Some of the well frogs are my friends others are not, you can leave my friends and eat the others.” After listening, cobra became happy and came out of his hole. However, cobra asked Froggy, “How can I enter a well and even if I enter, how I can leave later? I cannot climb the slippery walls?” Froggy said I know a secret entrance. You can enter and leave easily.

Froggy then made a deal with cobra to eat only his relatives and not his friends. The cobra agreed. Froggy and cobra then went to the well. The cobra then started eating the frogs and ate all the relatives of Froggy. Now only Froggy’s friends were left and cobra became hungry with every passing day. One day, the cobra could not control his hunger and ate one of Froggy’s friends.

Froggy became angry and confronted cobra about eating his friend. He reminded cobra about the deal. The cobra declined and said he remembers no such deal. Froggy and his friends now became afraid of the cobra. Every day, the cobra caught a new frog and ate him. Soon, in a few weeks, he ate all of Froggy’s friends. Now only the cobra and Froggy were left in the well. Froggy now feared for his life and hid himself for 3 days. On the fourth day, he became very hungry and came out.

As soon as the cobra saw Froggy, he wanted to eat him up. Froggy was clever, he told him “please don’t eat me! I am the king of frogs, I know plenty of other frogs you can eat.” The cobra thought it was a far better offer, so he agreed. Froggy told him, “I will go out of the well and bring other frogs”. So he climbed the well and left. He also closed the secret entrance from outside. After several days, Froggy didn’t come back. The cobra became hungrier. One day the cobra asked a lizard on the wall to tell Froggy to return with the frogs. The lizard told Froggy about the cobra. Froggy asked the lizard to tell the cobra that he was his enemy and he wanted to eat him. He made him a fool and told him to lie. He won’t come back and the cobra should die in the well.

Alas…one day the cobra died in the well

MORAL: Choose good friends and never trust your enemies.