Category Archives: EUROPE
112.The Eagle and the Jackdaw
AN EAGLE flying down from his perch on a lofty rock seized on a lamb and carried him aloft in his talons. A jackdaw, who witnessed the capture of the lamb, was stirred with envy and determined to emulate the strength and flight of the eagle. He flew around with a great whir of his wings and settled on a large ram, with the intention of carrying him off, but his claws became entangled in the ram’s fleece and he was not able to release himself, although he fluttered with his feathers as much as he could.
The shepherd, seeing what had happened, ran up and caught him. He at once clipped the jackdaw’s wings, and taking him home at night, gave him to his children. On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?” he replied,
“To my certain knowledge he is a daw; but he would like you to think an eagle.”
111.The Eagle and the Fox
AN EAGLE and a fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the fox crept into the underwood and there produced her young.
Not long after they had agreed on this plan, the eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the fox was out, seized on one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The fox on her return, discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them.
A just retribution, however, quickly fell on the eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the eagle, the fox gobbled them up.
110.The Eagle and the Arrow
AN EAGLE sat on a lofty rock, watching the movements of a hare whom he sought to make his prey. An archer, who saw the eagle from a place of concealment, took an accurate aim and wounded him mortally. The eagle gave one look at the arrow that had entered his heart and saw in that single glance that its feathers had been furnished by himself.
“It is a double grief to me,” he exclaimed, “that I should perish by an arrow feathered from my own wings.”
“WE OFTEN GIVE OUR ENEMIES THE MEANS FOR OUR OWN DESTRUCTION.”
109.The Eagle and his Mother
A YOUNG EAGLE once said to his mother,
“You’re larger than a hedgehog, and swifter, good at soaring along and attacking from above, and you have both claws and a beak to help you. Why not take hedgehogs, mammy?”
She smiled as an eagle can, and said:
“All you say is perfectly true, son. I have the advantages you mention and still more, but after trying to capture just one hedgehog, when I hear even it’s sniffing far below, I just fly further, for that’s how it is to be.”
âť– Once severely pricked, one may be guarded for a life-time. (Once bitten, twice shy)
âť– One learns from mistakes to survive and improve one’s lot.
âť– Know what causes are lost and don’t encourage a lost cause further.
âť– Bitten, pricked or hurt, we are to learn and go further to accomplish what we’re truly good at.
âť– A man’s got to know his limitations.” (Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie)
