Bedtime story
Once upon a time, there was a frog who had lived all its life at the bottom of a dry well. The frog was very content with its little world and often boasted about it to anyone who would listen.
One day, after a meal, the frog was sitting on the edge of the well, feeling bored, when it noticed a large sea turtle walking nearby. Excited, the frog called out: “Hey, Brother Sea Turtle! Come over, come over! I want to show you my home!”
The sea turtle cautiously approached the well and looked down. All it could see was a shallow puddle of water covered in green moss, and a rather unpleasant smell rose from the bottom. The turtle frowned but stayed to listen.
The frog, puffing up its chest, went on and on about how wonderful its home was:
- In the evening, it could jump onto the well’s edge to cool off.
- At night, it could hide in little holes in the wall to sleep.
- It could swim in the water, letting the liquid support its body.
- It could roll around in the mud and feel playful and free.
The frog added proudly, “All of this is mine! I can do whatever I want here. Isn’t it paradise?”
The sea turtle tried to enter the well to see more, but its large legs got stuck on the well’s edge, and it couldn’t go down. So the turtle, patiently and calmly, said:
“Frog, I live in the ocean. The ocean is vast and endless. Its waters are so deep and wide that time and seasons hardly change its volume. Compared to your tiny well, my world is infinitely larger. The pleasures and opportunities are far greater too.”
The frog listened, stunned. Its eyes bulged in surprise, and it was speechless. For the first time, it realized how narrow and limited its own world had been.
Moral of the story
This story is where the Chinese idiom “井底之蛙” (jǐng dǐ zhī wā), literally “a frog at the bottom of a well,” comes from. It teaches several lessons:
- Perspective is limited by experience — The frog thought it knew everything about the world, but it had only ever seen the bottom of a well.
- Don’t be complacent or self-satisfied — Thinking your small world is the whole world is a form of ignorance.
- Broaden your horizons — To truly understand life and gain wisdom, you need to see the bigger picture and explore beyond your comfort zone.
In short: if you only know your little corner of the world, you’ll never understand how big life really is.
