The Hares and the Frogs from Aesop for ESL Students

The Hares and the Frogs from Aesop with video and vocabulary practice for ESL students

The Hares and the Frogs is now in the public domain available at: Gutenberg Project

Video of The Hares and the Frogs

The Hares and the Frogs

The hares once gathered together and lamented the unhappiness of their lot, exposed as they were to dangers on all sides and lacking the strength and the courage to hold their own.

• hare: an animal like a rabbit with large hind legs
• to lament: to express grief and sadness about something, mourn, grieve

Men, dogs, birds and beasts of prey were all their enemies, and killed and devoured them daily: and sooner than endure such persecution any longer, they one and all determined to end their miserable lives.

• endure: bear, tolerate
• persecution: suffering, torture

Thus resolved and desperate, they rushed in a body towards a neighboring pool, intending to drown themselves. On the bank were sitting a number of frogs, who, when they heard the noise of the hares as they ran, with one accord leaped into the water and hid themselves in the depths.

• with one accord: unanimously, in unison, simultaneously
• leaped: jumped

Then one of the older hares who was wiser than the rest cried out to his companions, “Stop, my friends, take heart; don’t let us destroy ourselves after all: see, here are creatures who are afraid of us, and who must, therefore, be still more timid than ourselves.”

• take heart: cheer up, perk up, take comfort
• timid: showing lack of courage, fearful, nervous