[Illustration: THE HAWK AND THE NIGHTINGALE.]
A Nightingale, sitting all alone among the shady branches of an oak,
sung with so melodious and shrill a pipe, that she made the woods echo
again, and alarmed a hungry Hawk, who was at some distance off watching
for his prey; he had no sooner discovered the little musician, but,
making a stoop at the place, he seized her with his crooked talons, and
bid her prepare for death.--'Ah!' says she, 'for mercy's sake don't do
so barbarous a thing, and so unbecoming yourself; consider, I never did
you any wrong, and am but a poor small morsel for such a stomach as
yours; rather attack some larger fowl, which may bring you more credit
and a better meal, and let me go.'--'Aye!' says the Hawk, 'persuade me
to it if you can: I have been upon the watch all day long, and have not
met with one bit of any thing till I caught you; and now you would have
me let you go, in hopes of something better, would you? Pray, who would
be the fool then?'