The Tortoise And The Eagle
A Tortoise, lazily basking in the sun, complained to the sea-birds
of her hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly. An Eagle, hovering
near, heard her lamentation 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 talons 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.
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