The sparrow and the beetle met one day in the summer, when the
strawberries and raspberries were ripe, and the kitchen-garden was full
of flourishing vegetables.
"Good-morning. You are early abroad," said the sparrow. "Pray where may
you have been?"
"I have been where I advise you to go," answered the beetle--"into the
kitchen-garden, where I found all manner of delicious leaves just suited
to my taste, and where I saw red, white, and black currants, fine
raspberries, pease, and strawberries."
"Oh!" said the sparrow, with a severe look; "then you take me to be as
great a thief as the snail and yourself. I wonder you are not ashamed of
plundering the master's garden, and injuring his plants and vegetables."
"I don't do much injury," said the beetle. "Creatures must live. I take
little."
"Perhaps not," returned the sparrow, "if there were only yourself to
consider; but just count up your children, and your grandchildren, and
your great-grandchildren, to say nothing of the innumerable beetles of
your own generation. I wonder you dare to confess your pillaging
propensities."
The beetle began to feel nervous; he looked right and left, but the
sparrow's eye was upon him.
"I must do my duty," said the sparrow, sternly. "I am here to protect my
master's plants. As it happens, I can serve him and my little ones also,
who are waiting for their breakfast."
So saying, he seized upon the hapless beetle, and put an end to him. But
as he was about to fly home, a cat, who had been watching from the
boughs of a neighboring plum-tree, appeared in sight. The sparrow
dropped his prey, and remained fascinated to the spot, his eyes fixed on
the cat, who came nearer and nearer.
"Is it for you," said she, "to deprive an innocent insect of his life,
and to accuse him of robbery, when I have seen you and the blackbirds
eating away at the cherries in this very orchard? It is of no use to
deny the fact," she added, as the sparrow feebly attempted to speak. "I
know my duty, and it is to rid my master of thieves."
So saying, she pounced upon the unfortunate sparrow, and was carrying
him home to her kitten, when the gamekeeper, who had his eye upon her on
account of the numerous hares and rabbits that she had made away with,
levelled his gun at her, and fired with such good effect that she fell
dead.
Now the moral of this tale is that those who would punish the faults of
others should be careful to see whether they themselves are blameless,
or they may find that retribution awaits them even in the moment when
they think they are going to triumph.