Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
43. THE EAGLE AND THE ARROW
Perry 276 (Aphthonius
32)
A story about an archer, showing that it is bitter to be betrayed
by one of your own.
An archer aimed at an eagle and let loose an arrow. The eagle was struck
and as he turned and looked at the shaft which was tipped with his own
feathers, he said, 'Many are betrayed by the very things that they themselves
have wrought.'
Note: The proverbial motif of the eagle shot by his own feathers is
also found in Aristophanes,
Birds 808. For another fable about birds shot down with their own
feathers, see Fable 488.
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.
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