Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
142. THE HARE AND THE SPARROW
Perry 473 (Phaedrus
1.9)
With this brief fable I will show that it is a foolish thing to give
advice to others while not looking out for oneself.
A hare had been seized by an eagle and was weeping bitter tears. Meanwhile,
a sparrow was making fun of the hare and said, 'So, what became of your
fabled swiftness? How did your feet happen to fail you?' While the sparrow
was still speaking, he was caught off guard by a hawk who killed the sparrow
as he was still shrieking his useless cries of protest. The hare, by now
no more than half-alive, remarked, 'Ah, this makes my dying easier: a
moment ago you were making fun of my misfortune, confident in your own
safety, but now you are bewailing your fate with a lament that matches
my own.'
 Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
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