A HUSBANDMAN pitched a net in his fields, to take the cranes and wild
geese that came daily to feed upon the newly sown corn.
In this net he captured several cranes and geese, and among them, on
one occasion, was a Stork. The cranes and geese accepted their lot as
one of the chances to which such lives as theirs were subject; but the
Stork was in very sad case and pleaded hard for his life.
Among other reasons why he should not be put to death, the Stork urged
that he was neither goose nor crane but a poor, harmless Stork, who
performed his duty to his parents as well as ever he could, feeding
them when they were old, and carrying them, when required, from place
to place upon his back.
“All this may be true,” replied the Husbandman; “but, as I have taken
you in bad company, and in the same crime, you must expect to suffer
the same punishment.”