AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided1 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 brood. The Fox on her return,
discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death
of her young than for her inability to avenge2 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 cinder3, 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.
