THE NIGHTINGALE, THE HAWK AND THE BIRD CATCHER

Perry's Index to the Aesopica

Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:

THE NIGHTINGALE, THE HAWK AND THE BIRD CATCHER

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.

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.

Perry 567: Caxton 3.5 [English]
Perry 567: Gibbs (Oxford) 137 [English]
Perry 567: Steinhowel 3.5 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim University Library
Perry 567: Ademar 39 [Latin]
Perry 567: Rom. Anglicus 56 [Latin]
Perry 567: Rom. Nil. (metrica) 27 [Latin]
Perry 567: Rom. Nil. (rhythmica) 2.11 [Latin]
Perry 567: Walter of England 45 [Latin]

You can find a compilation of Perry's index to the Aesopica in the gigantic appendix to his edition of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965). This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the Aesopic fable tradition. Invaluable.