Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.) Fables.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| The Labourer and the Nightingale |
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| A LABOURER lay listening to a Nightingale’s song throughout the summer night. So pleased was he with it that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. “Now that I have caught thee,” he cried, “though shalt always sing to me.” | 1 |
| “We Nightingales never sing in a cage,” said the bird. | 2 |
| “Then I’ll eat thee,” said the Labourer. “I have always heard say that nightingale on toast is a dainty morsel.” | 3 |
| “Nay, kill me not,” said the Nightingale; “but let me free, and I’ll tell thee three things far better worth than my poor body.” The Labourer let him loose, and he flew up to a branch of a tree and said: “Never believe a captive’s promise; that’s one thing. Then again: Keep what you have. And third piece of advice is: Sorrow not over what is lost forever.” Then the song-bird flew away. | 4 |
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