The Frogs
The Greeks and Romans associated frogs with fertility and harmony, and with licentiousness in association with Aphrodite. "The combat between the Frogs and the Mice" (Batrachomyomachia) was a mock epic, commonly attributed to Homer, though in fact a parody of his "Iliad". "The Frogs Who Desired a King" is a fable, attributed to Aesop. The Frogs prayed to Zeus asking for a King. Zeus set up a log to be their monarch. The Frogs protested they wanted a fierce and terrible king, not a mere figurehead. So Zeus sent them a Stork to be their king. The new king hunted and devoured his subjects. Aesop wrote a fable about a frog trying to inflate itself to the size of an ox. Phaedrus (and later Jean de La Fontaine) wrote versions of this fable. "The Frogs" is a comic play by Aristophanes, in which the choir of frogs sings the famous onomatopoeic line: "Brekekekex koax koax."