Æsop's Fables (V. S. Vernon-Jones)/The Nightingale and the Hawk

by Aesop

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE HAWK

A NIGHTINGALE was sitting on a bough of an oak and singing, as her custom was. A hungry Hawk presently spied her, and darting to the spot seized her in his talons. He was just about to tear her in pieces when she begged him to spare her life: “I’m not big enough,” she pleaded, “to make you a good meal: you ought to seek your prey among the bigger birds.” The Hawk eyed her with some contempt. “You must think me very simple,” said he, “if you suppose I am going to give up a certain prize on the chance of a better of which I see at present no signs.”