Monthly Archives: August 2013
113.The Eagle and the Kite
AN EAGLE, overwhelmed with sorrow, sat on the branches of a tree in company with a kite.
“Why,” said the kite, “Do I see you with such a rueful look?”
“I seek,” she replied, “a mate suitable for me, and am not able to find one.”
“Take me,” returned the kite, “I am much stronger than you are.”
“Why, are you able to secure the means of living by your plunder?”
“Well, I have often caught and carried away an ostrich in my talons.”
The eagle, persuaded by these words, accepted him as her mate. Shortly after the nuptials, the eagle said,
“Fly off and bring me back the ostrich you promised me.”
The kite, soaring aloft into the air, brought back the shabbiest possible mouse, stinking from the length of time it had lain about the fields.
“Is this,” said the eagle, “the faithful fulfillment of your promise to me?”
The kite replied, “That I might attain your royal hand, there is nothing that I would not have promised, however much I knew that I must fail in the performance.”
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.”
