THE SWALLOW AND THE OTHER BIRDS

Some birds who had flocked together saw a man sowing flax seed but they thought nothing of it. The swallow, however, understood what this meant. She called an assembly of the birds and explained that this was an altogether dangerous situation, but the other birds just laughed at her. When the flax seed sprouted, the swallow warned the birds again, 'This is something dangerous; let's go and pull it up. If it is allowed to grow, people will make it into nets and we will not able to escape the traps that they devise.' The birds mocked the swallow's words and scorned her advice. So the swallow went to the people and began to make her nest only under the roofs of their houses. Meanwhile, the other birds refused to heed the swallow's warnings, so now they are constantly being trapped in nets and snares.