THE EAGLE AND THE FOX

AN EAGLE and a Fox had lived together as good neighbors, the former

on the summit of a high tree, the latter in a hole at the foot of it.

One day when the Fox was abroad, the Eagle swooped down and snatched

the Fox’s cub and carried it up to her nest, thinking that her high

dwelling made her secure from the Fox’s revenge. The Fox returning

upbraided the Eagle for such a breach of confidence and begged to have

her young one returned to her. Finding that her entreaties availed

nothing, the Fox snatched a brand from an altar fire which had been

lighted hard by and proceeded to involve the whole tree in flames. The

Eagle, to protect her nest and her own young ones, restored the cub

to its mother, which she would not do in answer to the most earnest

entreaties.

Æsop's Fables: A Version for Young Readers · 第 189 / 226 题