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

8. THE JACKDAW AND THE STRING
Perry 131 (Chambry 164)

A man caught a jackdaw and tied the bird's foot with a piece of string so that he could give the bird to his children as a present. The jackdaw, however, could not stand to live in human society, so when they let him loose for just a moment, he ran away. But when he got back to his nest, the string became entangled in the branches, so that the jackdaw was unable to fly. As he was dying, the bird said to himself, 'How stupid of me! Since I could not stand being a slave in human society, I have brought about my own death.'
This story is appropriate for people who want to rescue themselves from some moderate difficulties and, without realizing it, find themselves in even more serious trouble.


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.