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The Battle between the Frogs and the Mice: A Tiny Homeric Epic
"A virtuosic, witty, charming translation of the greatest epic ever written about mice, with wonderful illustrations by Grant Silverstein. Stallings' elegant rhyming couplets are the perfect choice to honor the mousy Muse."―Emily Wilson, Professor of Classics, University of Pennsylvania
"Stallings' translation of this ancient epic is a delight: charming, witty, and vividly alive, with buoyant rhymes and eye-catching illustrations. I suspect this will become a beloved addition in many home libraries."―Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe
From the award-winning poet and translator A. E. Stallings comes a lively new edition of the ancient Greek fable The Battle between the Frogs and the Mice. Originally attributed to Homer, but now thought to have been composed centuries later by an unknown author, The Battle is the tale of a mouse named Crumbsnatcher who is killed by the careless frog King Pufferthroat, sparking a war between the two species. This dark but delightful parable about the foolishness of war is illustrated throughout in striking drawings by Grant Silverstein.
The clever introduction is written from the point of view of a mouse who argues that perhaps the unknown author of the fable is not a human after all: “Who better than a mouse, then, to compose our diminutive, though not ridiculous, epic, a mouse born and bred in a library, living off lamp oil, ink, and the occasional nibble of a papyrus, constantly perched on the shoulder of some scholar or scholiast of Homer, perhaps occasionally whispering in his ear? Mouse, we may remember, is only one letter away from Muse.”
“The characters of this dazzling epic spring to life (and death!) in Grant Silverstein's exquisitely detailed drawings.” ―Ann Temkin, Chief Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art
“A delightful translation of an overlooked gem of ancient Greek satire.”―A. M. Juster
A. E. Stallings is an American poet who has lived in Athens, Greece since 1999. She studied Classics at the University of Georgia, and later at Oxford University. She has published four collections of poetry, Archaic Smile (which won the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award), Hapax (recipient of the Poets’ Prize), Olives (a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), and Like (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry). Her translation of Lucretius (into rhyming fourteeners), The Nature of Things, was called by Peter Stothard in the TLS “One of the most extraordinary classical translations of recent times.”
Stallings has received a translation grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (US), and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and United States Artists, as well as a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her work is widely anthologized, and has been included in the Best American Poetry in 1994, 2000, and 2015, and in the Best of the Best American Poetry (ed. Robert Pinsky). Her poems appear in The Atlantic Monthly, The Beloit Poetry Review, The Dark Horse, The New Yorker, Poetry, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Review, and the TLS, among others. She also contributes essays and reviews to the American Scholar, Parnassus, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Review, the TLS, and the Yale Review.
Stallings is married to the journalist, John Psaropoulos, and has two children, Jason and Atalanta.
Grant Silverstein is an American artist who specializes in etchings of a narrative character and in studies of figures, landscapes, and animals.
"Stallings' translation of this ancient epic is a delight: charming, witty, and vividly alive, with buoyant rhymes and eye-catching illustrations. I suspect this will become a beloved addition in many home libraries."―Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe
From the award-winning poet and translator A. E. Stallings comes a lively new edition of the ancient Greek fable The Battle between the Frogs and the Mice. Originally attributed to Homer, but now thought to have been composed centuries later by an unknown author, The Battle is the tale of a mouse named Crumbsnatcher who is killed by the careless frog King Pufferthroat, sparking a war between the two species. This dark but delightful parable about the foolishness of war is illustrated throughout in striking drawings by Grant Silverstein.
The clever introduction is written from the point of view of a mouse who argues that perhaps the unknown author of the fable is not a human after all: “Who better than a mouse, then, to compose our diminutive, though not ridiculous, epic, a mouse born and bred in a library, living off lamp oil, ink, and the occasional nibble of a papyrus, constantly perched on the shoulder of some scholar or scholiast of Homer, perhaps occasionally whispering in his ear? Mouse, we may remember, is only one letter away from Muse.”
“The characters of this dazzling epic spring to life (and death!) in Grant Silverstein's exquisitely detailed drawings.” ―Ann Temkin, Chief Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art
“A delightful translation of an overlooked gem of ancient Greek satire.”―A. M. Juster
A. E. Stallings is an American poet who has lived in Athens, Greece since 1999. She studied Classics at the University of Georgia, and later at Oxford University. She has published four collections of poetry, Archaic Smile (which won the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award), Hapax (recipient of the Poets’ Prize), Olives (a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), and Like (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry). Her translation of Lucretius (into rhyming fourteeners), The Nature of Things, was called by Peter Stothard in the TLS “One of the most extraordinary classical translations of recent times.”
Stallings has received a translation grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (US), and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and United States Artists, as well as a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her work is widely anthologized, and has been included in the Best American Poetry in 1994, 2000, and 2015, and in the Best of the Best American Poetry (ed. Robert Pinsky). Her poems appear in The Atlantic Monthly, The Beloit Poetry Review, The Dark Horse, The New Yorker, Poetry, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Review, and the TLS, among others. She also contributes essays and reviews to the American Scholar, Parnassus, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Review, the TLS, and the Yale Review.
Stallings is married to the journalist, John Psaropoulos, and has two children, Jason and Atalanta.
Grant Silverstein is an American artist who specializes in etchings of a narrative character and in studies of figures, landscapes, and animals.
146 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2019
6 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
A.E. Stallings
30 books99 followersAlicia Elsbeth Stallings is an American poet and translator. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.
Stallings was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and studied classics at the University of Georgia, and the University of Oxford. She is an editor with the Atlanta Review. In 1999, Stallings moved to Athens, Greece and has lived there ever since. She is the Poetry Program Director of the Athens Centre. She is married to John Psaropoulos, who is the editor of the Athens News.
Stallings' poetry uses traditional forms, and she has been associated with the New Formalism.
She is a frequent contributor of poems and essays to Poetry magazine. She has published three books of original verse, Archaic Smile (1999), Hapax (2006), and Olives (2012). In 2007 she published a verse translation of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things).
Stallings was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and studied classics at the University of Georgia, and the University of Oxford. She is an editor with the Atlanta Review. In 1999, Stallings moved to Athens, Greece and has lived there ever since. She is the Poetry Program Director of the Athens Centre. She is married to John Psaropoulos, who is the editor of the Athens News.
Stallings' poetry uses traditional forms, and she has been associated with the New Formalism.
She is a frequent contributor of poems and essays to Poetry magazine. She has published three books of original verse, Archaic Smile (1999), Hapax (2006), and Olives (2012). In 2007 she published a verse translation of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things).
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 18, 2020
The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice was, for centuries, most students' first encounter with classical Greek. It is a satirical poem loosely following the events of the Iliad, with the main action taking place between frogs and mice, with a little help from crabs and mosquitoes. When Greek scholars fled Byzantium, this was one of the texts they brought with them, and as a short, accessible poem, it was read by far more people than the Iliad. It has now fallen into relative obscurity, but A. E. Stallings brings it to life again with this rich translation. At 300 lines, it's not a long piece, but in this version it is illustrated with dynamic and often violent sketches by Grant Silverstein. These illustrations create an impression that you are reading a graphic novel, albeit with an unusual text and help to give a sense of the expansiveness and breadth of the work. The poem itself veers between funny and surprisingly violent, and Stallings' translation captures the unusual dynamism of the text, as well as the jokes. In this poem, the gods are just as interested in the affairs of mice and frogs as they are in people, and mice are just as heroic as humans. It's an earthy story and brilliantly demonstrates that no matter how important we humans think we are, our actions are no more consequential than those of mice. Stallings' translates this poem in rhyming couplets, and renders the Greek names into English version, such as Crumbsnatcher, Lick-a-plate or Bogspawn. She also provides an introduction written by a very brilliant mouse, who explains the origins of the mouse epic, and demonstrates the base nature of the enemy frogs. Though short, this poem gives the reader a lot of insight into the place of epics in the ancient world, and provides a light-hearted and yet vicious portrayal of war and human nature. Highly recommended.
April 24, 2020
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
A short epic about the battle between frogs and mice. Titled Batrachomyomachia in it's original Greek, the Romans believed the poem to be one from Homer, however other sources have attributed it to the likes of Pigres of Halicarnassus, Lucian, or an unnamed poet during the time of Alexander the Great. This is essentially an ancient Greek Redwall with the violent and gruesome sensibilities that is seen in both The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Frog king causes the death of a mouse which leads to an epic battle between the two factions. The Gods watch from above with varying degrees of interest. There are many Homeric influences in the story, so I can understand why so many people attribute the story to him.
The poem isn't just translated from it's original Greek, instead, Stallings put her own unique spin on it. The original Greek version was in dactylic hexameter, this version is in rhyming couplets. The LARB review goes on to discuss whether this is a translation, an adaptation, or an appropriation of the original. What was lost and what was gained when the translator chose the route she did? I think their discussion of that is far more insightful than anything I'd have to say about it. But for me, I think that the rhyming added a whimsical twist on a somewhat dark satire. It could have been grim and overwrought, but for me, the rhyming helped with really seeing how absurd it all was. Not just the fact that it was a battle between mice and frogs, but the situation they were in. Battles in history have been started over far less. It helped highlight the absurdity and added levity.
To me, the illustrations mixed in with the poem are what really helps bring it all together. The illustrations are gorgeous and simultaneously doesn't make the whole thing a joke, but also doesn't take itself too seriously. I don't think I would have enjoyed this half as much without the illustrations to go with it. In fact, at the end of the poem with the illustrations there is another version of the poem except without the illustrations - really emphasizing their importance in the story itself.
Rare for me, but I also enjoyed reading all the insight and information the introduction and the footnotes at the end of the poem. I didn't know there were so many folktales about frogs and mice being enemies. Nor did I know how important mice were or how often they were thought about by writers, philosophers, and thinkers. Since I am not a scholar of Ancient Greek anything, both the introduction and the notes also helped me understand all the nuances and references that I would have otherwise missed. That would have been a real shame because of how much those references add to the story itself.
I am pretty sure this is not something to read to a small child, even though it does resemble one of Aesop's fables. The violence and the death depicted in the illustrations is pretty over the top, even if it is between frogs and mice.
I had this at 4 stars for the longest time, looking for justification during the review writing process to dock it. But I have to say, this was a fun very quick read, I learned random trivia, and had so much fun with it, I can't find where I'd dock anything. It's ridiculous, random, weird, over the top, and kind of funny, with some great illustrations.
A short epic about the battle between frogs and mice. Titled Batrachomyomachia in it's original Greek, the Romans believed the poem to be one from Homer, however other sources have attributed it to the likes of Pigres of Halicarnassus, Lucian, or an unnamed poet during the time of Alexander the Great. This is essentially an ancient Greek Redwall with the violent and gruesome sensibilities that is seen in both The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Frog king causes the death of a mouse which leads to an epic battle between the two factions. The Gods watch from above with varying degrees of interest. There are many Homeric influences in the story, so I can understand why so many people attribute the story to him.
The poem isn't just translated from it's original Greek, instead, Stallings put her own unique spin on it. The original Greek version was in dactylic hexameter, this version is in rhyming couplets. The LARB review goes on to discuss whether this is a translation, an adaptation, or an appropriation of the original. What was lost and what was gained when the translator chose the route she did? I think their discussion of that is far more insightful than anything I'd have to say about it. But for me, I think that the rhyming added a whimsical twist on a somewhat dark satire. It could have been grim and overwrought, but for me, the rhyming helped with really seeing how absurd it all was. Not just the fact that it was a battle between mice and frogs, but the situation they were in. Battles in history have been started over far less. It helped highlight the absurdity and added levity.
To me, the illustrations mixed in with the poem are what really helps bring it all together. The illustrations are gorgeous and simultaneously doesn't make the whole thing a joke, but also doesn't take itself too seriously. I don't think I would have enjoyed this half as much without the illustrations to go with it. In fact, at the end of the poem with the illustrations there is another version of the poem except without the illustrations - really emphasizing their importance in the story itself.
Rare for me, but I also enjoyed reading all the insight and information the introduction and the footnotes at the end of the poem. I didn't know there were so many folktales about frogs and mice being enemies. Nor did I know how important mice were or how often they were thought about by writers, philosophers, and thinkers. Since I am not a scholar of Ancient Greek anything, both the introduction and the notes also helped me understand all the nuances and references that I would have otherwise missed. That would have been a real shame because of how much those references add to the story itself.
I am pretty sure this is not something to read to a small child, even though it does resemble one of Aesop's fables. The violence and the death depicted in the illustrations is pretty over the top, even if it is between frogs and mice.
I had this at 4 stars for the longest time, looking for justification during the review writing process to dock it. But I have to say, this was a fun very quick read, I learned random trivia, and had so much fun with it, I can't find where I'd dock anything. It's ridiculous, random, weird, over the top, and kind of funny, with some great illustrations.
October 8, 2020
Great fun! An ancient parody of Homer, once thought to be by Homer. Wittily translated by A. E. Stallings, with energetic pencil illustrations by Grant Silverstein. It's short, so it's an easily-digestible and entertaining little chunk of clssical literature.
March 28, 2023
Se a Ilíada fosse escrita por Esopo. Maravilhosamente violento e com um belo deus ex machina no fim.
December 9, 2019
Wonderful in every sense. A lively, well illustrated translation that reminds us to maintain a sense of humor.
October 12, 2025
The Battle Between the Frogs and Mice, originally known as Batrachomyomachia, is an Ancient Greek animal parody of the Iliad that follows the war between the frogs and mice, after the mouse prince Crumbsnatcher (Psicharpax) is accidentally killed by the negligence of the frog king Pufferthroat (Physignathus). This short comic poem is believed to have been written by Pigres of Halicarnassus, the son or brother of Queen Artemisia of Caria (an ally of Xerxes I, the Persian King who famously invaded Greece in the tale of the 300 Spartans).
The poem itself is an absolute joy to read, as a "children's version" of the Iliad. It directly parodies Homer's style, with a faux serious tone, riffs of actual lines from the Iliad, lots of animals being introduced then abruptly killed a line later and cameos from the Olympians. I laughed as the poem described in verse how the mice armed themselves with needles as spears with the blessing of Ares and set about to crafting shin greaves out of bean pods, and helmets out of chickpea pods, while the frogs use reeds as spears, cabbage leaves as shields and snail shells as helmets. All of these scenes are beautifully illustrated in fine detail, adding a great deal of charm and humour.
After finishing this edition, I tracked down the Oxford translation by Matthew Hosty (who as it turns out is the spouse of Tamsyn Muir, author of the Locked Tomb series). The Hosty translation is a more formal and accurate version of the poem than this edition, which takes some liberties to make it easier to read for children. However, what the Oxford version lacks are the funny English translations of the animal names, all of which are adorable puns. Take for example the royal lineage of the mouse prince Psicharpax (Crumb-Snatcher) who dies at the start of the poem, which includes his father King Troxartes (Bread-Eater) and his mother Lichomyle (Millstone-Licker), daughter of King Pternotroctes (Bacon-Eater). The frogs also have equally punny names and grandiose lineages that make the story seem more serious than it actually is.
To be honest, I may have enjoyed Batrachomyomachia a tad more than I did the Iliad (it helps that this poem parody is a mere 300 lines). According to the Introduction, this poem was apparently a very popular text for students in Byzantine schools, as an entry point to more serious literary texts later on. It gladdens my heart to think of Byzantine children studying this adorable poem in preparation for the "real thing" later! This edition of the Battle Between the Frogs and Mice is the perfect picture book to gift to a fledgling Classicist, and will delight seasoned fans of Homer as well.
The poem itself is an absolute joy to read, as a "children's version" of the Iliad. It directly parodies Homer's style, with a faux serious tone, riffs of actual lines from the Iliad, lots of animals being introduced then abruptly killed a line later and cameos from the Olympians. I laughed as the poem described in verse how the mice armed themselves with needles as spears with the blessing of Ares and set about to crafting shin greaves out of bean pods, and helmets out of chickpea pods, while the frogs use reeds as spears, cabbage leaves as shields and snail shells as helmets. All of these scenes are beautifully illustrated in fine detail, adding a great deal of charm and humour.
After finishing this edition, I tracked down the Oxford translation by Matthew Hosty (who as it turns out is the spouse of Tamsyn Muir, author of the Locked Tomb series). The Hosty translation is a more formal and accurate version of the poem than this edition, which takes some liberties to make it easier to read for children. However, what the Oxford version lacks are the funny English translations of the animal names, all of which are adorable puns. Take for example the royal lineage of the mouse prince Psicharpax (Crumb-Snatcher) who dies at the start of the poem, which includes his father King Troxartes (Bread-Eater) and his mother Lichomyle (Millstone-Licker), daughter of King Pternotroctes (Bacon-Eater). The frogs also have equally punny names and grandiose lineages that make the story seem more serious than it actually is.
To be honest, I may have enjoyed Batrachomyomachia a tad more than I did the Iliad (it helps that this poem parody is a mere 300 lines). According to the Introduction, this poem was apparently a very popular text for students in Byzantine schools, as an entry point to more serious literary texts later on. It gladdens my heart to think of Byzantine children studying this adorable poem in preparation for the "real thing" later! This edition of the Battle Between the Frogs and Mice is the perfect picture book to gift to a fledgling Classicist, and will delight seasoned fans of Homer as well.
November 6, 2022
What a classic and why have I never heard of this before? And why is this not in the hardback edition it deserves?
Should you give it to your kids? Sure, they can skip the introductory essays and the footnotes. They will be entranced by the illustrations though they may cry sad bitter tears as well and be confused in life.
Should you read it to your kids? YES! Just maybe practice first, as it takes some doing to give the lines cadence that the rhyming in this translation leads one to expect. At first I found this a flaw, then I found myself adjusting, and perhaps grateful that we were avoiding the over-the-top singsong cadence of so much rhyming poetry. Actually, in general I hate rhyming poetry, but in this case it worked: sort of Homer meets Dr. Seuss.
Here's one way to experience it: get one of those neck reading lights and read this in the dark, creating spotlights on the illustrations. Just gonna say I geeked out on this.
Should you give it to your kids? Sure, they can skip the introductory essays and the footnotes. They will be entranced by the illustrations though they may cry sad bitter tears as well and be confused in life.
Should you read it to your kids? YES! Just maybe practice first, as it takes some doing to give the lines cadence that the rhyming in this translation leads one to expect. At first I found this a flaw, then I found myself adjusting, and perhaps grateful that we were avoiding the over-the-top singsong cadence of so much rhyming poetry. Actually, in general I hate rhyming poetry, but in this case it worked: sort of Homer meets Dr. Seuss.
Here's one way to experience it: get one of those neck reading lights and read this in the dark, creating spotlights on the illustrations. Just gonna say I geeked out on this.
March 6, 2021
This English translation of the ancient Batrachomyomachia enlivens the tale with vivid illustrations in pencil from Grant Silverstein. Although the story itself is slight, it's still a fun parody of Homer's grand epics, and the fact that Zeus and his fellow Olympians can't resist intervening even in the struggles of small animals simply makes the reader appreciate all the more the capricious wackiness that is the real beating heart of the Greek myths.
March 9, 2025
I don’t know which is more brilliant: the wittily translated verse of the battle between the mice and frogs, or the beautiful gestural graphite drawings all over every page.
Somehow this made the very gory animal-on-animal battle simultaneously hilarious and adorable. I came in with a preference for the frogs, but by the end felt like some kind of sports fan cheering on the (Ares-aided) mice, while Zeus, Athena and Hera argued about whether to interfere.
Somehow this made the very gory animal-on-animal battle simultaneously hilarious and adorable. I came in with a preference for the frogs, but by the end felt like some kind of sports fan cheering on the (Ares-aided) mice, while Zeus, Athena and Hera argued about whether to interfere.
September 11, 2024
A delightful little epic in a translation that was clearly a lot of fun to work on. I have mixed feelings about the illustrations, but suspect that they work better in print versions. A step-up from Aesop's fables that might be a good way to transition a child to, say, Redwall or other tales of militant rodents (albeit more bloodthirsty than even those tales).
October 6, 2019
Thanks to Edelweiss for the e-arc!
Beautifully illustrated translation of the classic mock-epic battle between mice and frogs. The introduction and end-notes are fun for the scholar, but everyone can enjoy the parable.
Beautifully illustrated translation of the classic mock-epic battle between mice and frogs. The introduction and end-notes are fun for the scholar, but everyone can enjoy the parable.
March 31, 2020
Whimsical take-off on Homer's Iliad, involving gods and various animals. Told in verse. Adorable line drawings illustrating the action page by page.
Interesting introductions along with the text repeated without illustrations.
Interesting introductions along with the text repeated without illustrations.
November 21, 2020
A quite delightfully translated and illustrated of the greatest epic ever written about frogs and mice. It constantly refers back to the Homeric and other Greek epic in a wonderfully comic way. The Introduction by a learned rodent, Anonymouse, is clear, elucidating and hilarious.
October 30, 2020
Delightful! For parents and children of all ages. A keeper.
November 20, 2020
Exceptional metred and rhymed translation of a kid-friendly mock Homeric epic, with surprisingly in depth scholarship full of puns and jokes by "A. Nony Mouse". This has truly tickled me.
February 24, 2022
Grinned from start to finish. Terrific.
March 25, 2022
A grim and gruesome tale, well rendered by A.E. Stallings. The illustrations by Grant Silverstein are fantastic.
June 12, 2022
so touching to see the ancient explore the possibilities of friendship between different cultures, Mice are the Greeks and Frogs are the Persians.... not saying more...
February 25, 2023
A delightful translation and great illustrations. A story that can be shared with children - at least of a certain age. The Homeric tropes are delectable.
July 1, 2023
It's Homer, so what else but 5⭐ can you give
September 29, 2024
What a cute book, and I understand it was written about 300 BC!
September 10, 2025
easy 5
October 19, 2023
It's odd to call something with so much bloodshed charming, but there you go! And the illustrations were wonderful.
Digital-arc provided by edelweiss and the publisher.
Digital-arc provided by edelweiss and the publisher.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews