Aesop's Fables (Joseph Jacobs)
Jacobs 8. The Fox and the Crow (Perry
124)
A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and
settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a Fox,"
said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. "Good-day,
Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are looking to-day:
how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice
must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear
but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds."
The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment
she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be
snapped up by Master Fox. "That will do," said he. "That
was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece
of advice for the future ."Do not trust flatterers."
The
Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by
Richard Heighway (1894). The page images come from Google
Books. The digitized text comes from Project
Gutenberg. You can purchase this inexpensive Dover edition, The
Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs from amazon.com.
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