Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
Townsend version
An eagle was once captured by a man, who immediately clipped his wings and put him into his poultry-yard with the other birds, at which treatment the Eagle was weighed down with grief. Later, another neighbor purchased him and allowed his feathers to grow again. The Eagle took flight, and pouncing upon a hare, brought it at once as an offering to his benefactor. A Fox, seeing this, exclaimed, "Do not cultivate the favor of this man, but of your former owner, lest he should again hunt for you and deprive you a second time of your wings."
L'Estrange version
A man took an eagle, pelted her wings, and put her among his hens. Somebody came and bought this eagle, and presently new feather'd her. She made a flight at a hare, truss'd it, and brought it to her benefactor. A fox perceiving this, came and gave the man a piece of good councell. Have a care, says Reynard, of putting too much confidence in this eagle; for she'll go neare, one time or other else, to take you for a hare. Upon this advice the man plum'd the eagle once again.
Moral
Persons and humours may be jumbled and disguis'd, but nature is like quicksilver, that will never be kill'd.
[Note: This combination shows how translations may vary. These were from the same original but the two translations relate two completely different fates for the eagle.]
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved