Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
105. THE CAT AND THE STORK
Perry (Odo
71)
We should strive to be like the stork who was carrying home an eel
as food for herself and her chicks.
The cat saw a stork carrying an eel. Now, the cat is a creature who dearly
loves fish although he doesn't like to get his feet wet. So the cat said
to the stork, 'O most beautiful bird! You have such a red beak and such
white feathers! Could it be that your beak is just as red on the inside
as it is on the outside?' The stork refused to answer the cat, keeping
her mouth shut so that she wouldn't lose her eel. The angry mouser then
began insulting the stork, 'Why, you must be deaf or dumb! Why don't you
answer me, you wretched creature? You do eat snakes sometimes, don't you?
Snakes are poisonous and filthy! A nice animal likes to eat nice things,
but you like to eat filthy things that are not nice at all! That means
you are the most filthy bird in the world!' The stork didn't say anything,
and just kept on walking, carrying her eel.
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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