The poem is about a frog that lives in a bog and croaks loudly every night, annoying the other creatures. One night, a nightingale begins singing beautifully. All the creatures applaud her song. The next night, the frog claims he owns the tree and offers to train the nightingale to sing even better. Under the frog's harsh training, the nightingale's voice loses its beauty. She sings more and more until she bursts a vein and dies, allowing the frog to once again sing alone in the bog.