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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

177. THE ROOSTERS AND THE HAWK
Perry 558 (Ademar 6)

There was a rooster who was always quarrelling with another rooster, so he asked the hawk to judge their dispute. The rooster was actually hoping that when he brought the other rooster before the judge, the judge would devour him. Yet when they came before the judge to make their arguments, the hawk grabbed the rooster who had originally brought the case to court. The rooster shouted, 'Not me! You want the one who is running away!' The hawk replied, 'Abandon all hope of being released from my talons today! Justice demands that you yourself should suffer the punishment that you intended for another.'
For people who plot the demise of others, not realizing what might happen to them as a result.


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.