E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Frog.
A frog and mouse agreed to settle by single combat their claims to a marsh; but, while they fought, a kite carried them both off. (Æsop: Fables, clxviii.)
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“Old Æsop’s fable, where he told
What fate unto the mouse and frog befel.”
Cary: Dante, cxxiii.
Nie Frog is the Dutchman (not Frenchman) in Arbuthnot’s History of John Bull. Frogs are called “Dutch nightingales.”
