Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
30. The Farmer and the Cranes (Perry
297)
SOME CRANES made their feeding grounds on some plowlands newly sown with
wheat. For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased
them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that the
sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of it
and would not move. The Farmer, on seeing this, charged his sling with
stones, and killed a great number. The remaining birds at once forsook
his fields, crying to each other, 'It is time for us to be off to Liliput:
for this man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in
earnest what he can do.'
If words suffice not, blows must follow.
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. |