The Eagle and the Kite
AN EAGLE, overwhelmed with sorrow, sat upon 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.”
The Eagle and His Captor
AN EAGLE was once captured by a man, who immediately clipped his wings and put him into his poultry-yard with the other birds, at which treatment the Eagle was weighed down with grief. Later, another neighbor purchased him and allowed his feathers to grow again. The Eagle took flight, and pouncing upon a hare, brought it at once as an offering to his benefactor. A Fox, seeing this, exclaimed, “Do not cultivate the favour of this man, but of your former owner, lest he should again hunt for you and deprive you a second time of your wings.”