Critical Reading For Exams / Long Reading Comprehension 4

The following is from Aesop: The Frogs Desiring a King written in the 3rd century C.E. 

The frogs always had lived a happy life in the marshes. They had jumped and splashed about with never a care in  the world. Yet some of them were not satisfied with their easygoing life. They thought they should have a king to rule  over them and to watch over their morals. So they decided to send a petition to Jupiter asking him to appoint a king. 

Jupiter was amused by the frogs’ plea. Good-naturedly he threw down a log into the lake, which landed with  such splash that it sent all the frogs scampering for safety. But after a while, when one venturesome frog saw that  the log lay still, he encouraged his friends to approach the fallen monster. In no time at all the frogs, growing bolder  and bolder, swarmed over the log Jupiter had sent and treated it with the greatest contempt. 

Dissatisfied with so tame a ruler, they petitioned Jupiter a second time, saying: “We want a real king, a king  who will really rule over us.” Jupiter, by this time, had lost some of his good nature and was tired of the frogs’  complaining. 

So he sent them a stork, who proceeded to gobble up the frogs right and left. After a few days the survivors sent 

Mercury with a private message to Jupiter, beseeching him to take pity on them once more. 

“Tell them,” said Jupiter coldly, “that this is their own doing. They wanted a king. Now they will have to make  the best of what they asked for.”