Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
253. The Eagle and the Fox (Perry 1)
AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live
near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree,
while the Fox crept into the underwood and there produced her young. Not
long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in want of
provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized
upon one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The Fox
on her return, discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for
the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution,
however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on
which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece
of the flesh, and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest.
A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as
yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down
dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the
Fox gobbled them up.
George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is
in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project
Gutenberg.
Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with
illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google
Books. |