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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

137. THE NIGHTINGALE, THE HAWK AND THE BIRD CATCHER
Perry 567 (Ademar 39)

A hawk who was hunting a rabbit alighted in a nightingale's nest and found her baby chicks there. When the nightingale returned, she begged the hawk to spare the chicks. The hawk said, 'I will grant your request, if you sing me a pretty song.' Even though she mustered all her courage, the nightingale trembled with fear. Stricken with terror, she started to sing but her song was full of grief. The hawk who had seized her chicks exclaimed, 'That is not a very nice song!' He then snatched up one of the chicks and swallowed it. Meanwhile, a bird catcher approached from behind and stealthily raised his snare: the hawk was caught in the sticky birdlime and fell to the ground.
People who lay traps for others should be careful not to fall into a trap themselves.

Note: For a description of the bird catcher's use of a snare made of reeds covered with viscous bird lime, see Fable 138 (following).

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.