A TORTOISE, lazily basking1 in the sun, complained to the
sea-birds of her hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly.
An Eagle, hovering2 near, heard her lamentation3 and demanded what
reward she would give him if he would take her aloft and float
her in the air. "I will give you," she said, "all the riches of
the Red Sea." "I will teach you to fly then," said the Eagle; and
taking her up in his talons4 he carried her almost to the clouds
suddenly he let her go, and she fell on a lofty mountain, dashing
her shell to pieces. The Tortoise exclaimed in the moment of
death: "I have deserved my present fate; for what had I to do
with wings and clouds, who can with difficulty move about on the
earth?'
If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined.
