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Abstemius's Fables (Sir Roger L'Estrange)

257. (Abstemius 3) A Country-man and a Hawk.

A Country Fellow had the Fortune to take a Hawk in the hot Pursuit of a Pigeon. The Hawk pleaded for her self, that she never did the Country-man any harm, and therefore I hope, says she, that you'll do me none. Well, says the Country-man, and pray what wrong did the Pigeon ever do you? Now by the Reason of your own Argument, you must e'en expect to be treated your self, as you your self would have treated this Pigeon.
'Tis good to think before we speak, for fear of condemning our selves out of our own Mouths.

 


Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists: Abstemius's Fables by Sir Roger L'Estrange. Available online at Google Books.