Aesop's Fables

An Eagle and a Fox formed a close 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 underbrush and there gave birth to her young. Not long after they had agreed on this plan, the Eagle, being in need of food for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized one of the little cubs, and made a feast of it for herself and her brood. The Fox, on her return, discovered what had happened, but she was less grieved by the death of her young than by her inability to avenge them. A just retribution, however, quickly fell on the Eagle. While she was hovering near an altar on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the meat and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, still unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.