Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
506. THE KITES AND THE SWANS
Perry 396 (Aphthonius
3)
A story about kites and swans, exhorting us not to imitate things
that are inappropriate to us.
Nature originally supplied the kites with a voice equal to that of the
swans. But when the kites heard the sound of horses neighing, they were
enchanted and tried to imitate it. In the course of their studies, the
kites lost what voice they had: they did not learn how to neigh, and they
forgot how to sing.
By imitating something inappropriate, you can lose what you had to
begin with.
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.
|