Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
126. A YOUNG MAN AND A SWALLOW (Perry
169)
A prodigal young Fellow that had sold his Clothes to his very Shirt,
upon the Sight of a Swallow that came before her Time, made Account that
Summer was now at Hand, and away went that too. There happen’d after this,
a Fit of bitter cold Weather, that almost starv’d the Bird and the Spendthrift.
Well (says the Fellow to himself) this Sot of a Swallow has been the Ruin
of us both.
THE MORAL. Extraordinary Cases are excepted out of the general Rules
of Life: So that irregular Accidents and Instances are not to be drawn
into President.
 L'Estrange originally published his version of the fables in 1692. There is a
very nice illustrated edition in the Children's Classics series by Knopf: Sir
Roger L'Estrange. Aesop
- Fables which is available at amazon.com.
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