Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
221. The Fowler and the Viper (Perry
115)
A FOWLER, taking his bird-lime and his twigs, went out to catch birds.
Seeing a thrush sitting upon a tree, he wished to take it, and fitting
his twigs to a proper length, watched intently, having his whole thoughts
directed towards the sky. While thus looking upwards, he unknowingly trod
upon a Viper asleep just before his feet. The Viper, turning about, stung
him, and falling into a swoon, the man said to himself, 'Woe is me! That
while I purposed to hunt another, I am myself fallen unawares into the
snares of death.'
George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is
in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project
Gutenberg.
Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with
illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google
Books. |