The Eagle and the Fox

: Aesop's Fables

AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to

live near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches

of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the underwood and there

produced her young. Not long after they had agreed upon this

plan, the Eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones,

swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of the little

cubs, and feasted herself and her bro
d. The Fox on her return,

discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death

of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just

retribution, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While

hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing

a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it,

along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon

fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged

and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at

the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the

Fox gobbled them up.



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