The Battle of Frogs and Mice

A thirsty mouse named Crumb-snatcher meets Puff-jaw, king of the Frogs, who offers him a ride across the lake. When a water-snake rears up, Puff-jaw dives to save himself and leaves his guest to drown. The Mice declare war, arm themselves with needles and nutshells, and march on the Frogs, while Zeus asks the gods which side they will take and Athena complains that the Mice have eaten holes in her robe. The result is a battle told in the grand manner of the Iliad, and it ends only when Zeus sends in the crabs.

What happens in The Battle of Frogs and Mice

The poet calls on the Muses to help him tell of a war between the Mice and the Frogs that rivaled the deeds of the Giants. A thirsty Mouse, just escaped from a ferret, stops to drink at a lake, where Puff-jaw, king of the Frogs, asks who he is. The Mouse introduces himself as Crumb-snatcher, son of Bread-nibbler, boasts of the rich human food he eats, and names the hawk, the ferret and the trap as the things he fears most. Puff-jaw offers to show him the marvels of the lake and carries him on his back. The ride delights the Mouse at first, but once the waves wash over him he panics. When a water-snake rears its head, Puff-jaw dives to safety and abandons his passenger. Crumb-snatcher drowns, swearing that the Mice will avenge him. Lick-platter sees the death from the bank and tells the Mice. At an assembly, Bread-nibbler, who has now lost three sons, to a ferret, a trap and a frog, calls the Mice to war. They arm themselves with bean-pod greaves, breastplates of ferret skin, the centers of lamps for shields, bronze needles for spears and pea-nut shells for helmets. Their herald, Pot-visitor, carries the declaration of war to the Frogs. Puff-jaw denies everything, claims the Mouse drowned while imitating the Frogs’ swimming, and proposes that the Frogs stand on the steep bank and throw the attackers into the water. The Frogs arm with leaves, rushes and snail shells. In heaven, Zeus asks which gods will help each side. Athena refuses to help the Mice, who have spoiled her garlands and lamps and eaten holes in her robe, or the Frogs, whose noise once kept her awake, and the gods agree to watch. Gnats sound the trumpets and the battle begins, told as a string of mock-heroic kills, with two passages lost from the text. The Mouse Slice-snatcher then threatens to wipe out the Frogs. Zeus pities them and, at Hera’s urging, hurls a thunderbolt, but even that does not stop the Mice. At last Zeus sends the crabs, which nip off the Mice’s tails and paws and put them to flight as the sun sets on the one-day war. Ancient readers ascribed the poem to Homer, but modern scholars think it was written much later by another poet as a parody.

Where and when The Battle of Frogs and Mice happens

Chapter by chapter summary + why it matters

1. 1

   The Ride and the Drowning (Lines 1 to 98)

   The poet invokes the Muses and promises a war to rival the deeds of the Giants. Puff-jaw, king of the Frogs, meets the thirsty Crumb-snatcher at the lake, and the two trade boasts about their families and their food. Puff-jaw carries the Mouse on his back, but when a water-snake appears he dives, and Crumb-snatcher drowns, calling him a coward and promising that the Mice will take revenge.

   Why it mattersThe opening copies the manners of epic, from a host’s questions to a stranger to proud family trees, and the comedy comes from giving those grand forms to a frog and a mouse. The poet even says he wrote the poem on tablets on his knee, which presents it as a written composition.

2. 2

   War Is Declared (Lines 99 to 198)

   Lick-platter reports the drowning, and Bread-nibbler, mourning a third lost son, persuades the Mice to arm. Their herald Pot-visitor declares war, Puff-jaw denies any guilt and plans a defense at the steep edge of the lake, and both armies put on armor made of pods, leaves, shells and household objects. Zeus invites the gods to take sides, but Athena lists her grievances against both peoples and persuades the gods to watch from heaven.

   Why it mattersThe arming scenes and the council of the gods parody the Iliad directly. Athena’s complaint about mouse-eaten weaving and interest payments turns a goddess into a harassed householder.

3. 3

   The Battle and the Crabs (Lines 199 to 303)

   Gnats blow the war trumpets and Zeus thunders. Frogs and Mice kill each other in a run of grand single combats, though two passages of the text are lost. When the mighty Slice-snatcher threatens to destroy the Frogs, Zeus pities them and, at Hera’s urging, hurls a thunderbolt. When even that fails to stop the Mice, he sends an army of crabs that routs them at sunset.

   Why it mattersThe battle copies Homer’s habit of naming each warrior as he falls, and the comic names make the slaughter absurd. The crabs, described as solemnly as any epic army, end the war by pinching rather than by heroism.

Characters and how they connect

Character Relationships who connects to whom, and the themes that bind them

Themes in The Battle of Frogs and Mice what the novel is really about

Symbols & motifs

Important quotes

The ending of The Battle of Frogs and Mice, explained

The war ends without a winner among the fighters. As the battle turns, the Mouse Slice-snatcher, his paws armored with the halves of a chestnut husk, drives the Frogs into the lake and threatens to destroy their race. Zeus, who began by treating the war as entertainment, now pities the Frogs. He first thinks of sending Athena or Ares. Hera answers that neither could save them and urges him to let loose the thunderbolt he once used against the Giants. The thunderbolt frightens both armies, but the Mice fight on. So Zeus sends help of a humbler kind: crabs, described in a long, mock-solemn passage as armored warriors with eight legs, a sideways walk and eyes that look behind them. They nip off the Mice’s tails, paws and feet, and the Mice, whose spears only beat on the shells, turn and run. The poem closes as the sun sets on what it calls the one-day war. The ending completes the joke. The poem opened by promising a war to rival the Giants, and it ends with the weapon that defeated the Giants failing, while crabs decide the day. Readers take the ending in different ways. Some read it as pure fun, the work of a poet who knew Homer well enough to shrink the whole machinery of epic down to pond size. Others see a sharper point: a war that grows from an accident and a lie, kills many on both sides and ends in a rout looks just as foolish when heroes fight it. The gods, who watch for amusement and step in only at the last moment, are mocked along with the warriors. Ancient readers ascribed the poem to Homer, but modern scholars generally think another poet wrote it much later. Either way, the parody depends on an audience that knew the Iliad well enough to recognize what was being mocked.

Common misreadings

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Flashcards flip, self-grade, and the deck remembers what you know

A mouse stops at a pond for a drink and meets the king of the frogs, who offers him a ride on his back. When a water snake pops up, the frog dives to save himself, and the mouse drowns. The mice are furious and go to war, wearing bean pods and nutshells as armor and carrying needles as spears. The gods watch the battle like a show, and Athena refuses to help either side because the mice nibbled her robe and the frogs once kept her awake. When one strong mouse is about to wipe out the frogs, Zeus sends crabs that pinch the mice until they run away. The whole poem makes fun of serious war stories like the Iliad by acting out their big, solemn scenes with tiny animals.

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Discussion & essay prompts for class, or your next paper

Key questions students ask

• Who wrote The Battle of Frogs and Mice
• What is The Battle of Frogs and Mice about
• How does the war start in The Battle of Frogs and Mice
• Why does Athena refuse to help the mice
• How does The Battle of Frogs and Mice end
• Why is The Battle of Frogs and Mice called a mock epic