"Cric?"
"Crac!"*A tadpole, who was at the water's edge,
Saw, one day, a great bull.
He called to his friends:
"Look! I bet that I will become
"As big as that ox!"
All who heard him exploded with laughter: (coua! coua! coua!)
"You're not even as big as a dung beetle:
"How can you expect to inflate
"Your little body, to the point
That you might attain that size?"
He said: "Well then! Watch:
"You will see if I'm mistaken!
"I will go even further,
"Or may I choke on a crab callaloo!"°
He began to fill himself up with air.
And up, and up! And then:
"Almost! Look at me now!" "Pshaw!
"You're too short; you should have waited
"Until you had eaten some bananas."
"No matter what you say,
"I'm too smart
"Not to see that I've grown."
At that moment his belly exploded : (Booh!)
—I beg the forgiveness of present company.—
All of his innards shot out:
Which horrified the onlookers.
The ignorance that wants to seem a scholar,
Is heading toward its pain.
Brother, if the boot is too small,
It's better to go on barefoot.
* Creole storytellers would always begin by saying "Cric?" to which their audience would reply "Crac!"
° Crab callaloo is a gumbo made from the callaloo plant and crabs or crayfish.
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