Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
181. A DAW AND PIGEONS (Perry 129)
A Daw took a particular Notice of Pigeons in a certain Dovehouse , that
they were well Fed and Provided for: So he went and Painted himself of
a Dove-colour, and took his Commons with the Pigeons. So long as he kept
his Own Counsel, he pass’d for a Bird of the same Feather; but it was
his Hap once at Unawares, to cry [KAW] upon which Discovery they beat
him out of the House, and when he came to his Old Companions again, they’d
have none of him neither; so that he Lost himself both Ways by this Disguise.
THE MORAL. He that Trims betwixt Two Interests, loses himself with
Both, when he comes to be Detected, for being True to Neither.
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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