A Tortoise, lazily basking in the sun, complained to the sea-birds of
her hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly. An Eagle hovering
near, heard her lamentation, and demanded what reward she would give
him, if he would take her aloft, and float her in the air. "I will give
you," she said, "all the riches of the Red Sea." "I will teach you to
fly then," said the Eagle; and taking her up in his talons, he carried
her almost to the clouds,--when suddenly letting her go, she fell on a
lofty mountain, and dashed her shell to pieces. The Tortoise exclaimed
in the moment of death: "I have deserved my present fate; for what had I
to do with wings and clouds, who can with difficulty move about on the
earth?"
_If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined._