Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CVII
Fab. CVII.
An Eagle and a Man.
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.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
Birds of Prey will be Birds of Prey still, at what rate soever you Treate 'em. So that there's no Trufting of them: For when they have no longer a Power to do Mischief, the Will yet Remains. Here’s a Forc’d Moral for a Forc'd Fable: For the Fancy of it is against Nature, and the Fiction does not consist with it self. Now to My Thinking This Application of it lyes the Fairer of the Two, i, e. That the Gratitude of the Eagle, in bringing the Hare to her Master, may serve to shew us, that the Wildest and Fiercest of Creatures may be Sweetn’d, and Reclaim’d by Benefits.