Mother Nature saw how useless had become the Frog tribe she
called the King Frog before her and she said:

"'Because you can think of nothing but your beautiful tail it
shall be taken away from you. Because you do nothing but eat and
sleep your mouth shall become wide like a door, and your eyes
shall start forth from your head. You shall become bow-legged and
ugly to look at, and all the world shall laugh at you.'

"The King Frog looked at his beautiful tail and already it seemed
to have grown shorter. He looked again and it was shorter still.
Every time he looked his tail had grown shorter and smaller. By
and by when he looked there was nothing left but a little stub
which he couldn't even wriggle. Then even that disappeared, his
eyes popped out of his head and his mouth grew bigger and
bigger."

Old Grandfather Frog stopped and looked sadly at a foolish green
fly coming his way. "Chug-arum," said Grandfather Frog, opening
his mouth very wide and hopping up in the air. When he sat down
again on his big lily pad the green fly was nowhere to be seen.
Grandfather Frog smacked his lips and continued:

"And from that day to this every Frog has started life with a big
tail, and as he has grown bigger and bigger his tail has grown
smaller and smaller, until finally it disappears, and then he
remembers how foolish and useless it is to be vain of what nature
has given us. And that is how I came to lose my tail," finished
Grandfather Frog.