Aesop's Fables
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Aesop's Fables, by Aesop
translated by G.F. Townsend
Preface | Life of Aesop | Aesop's Fables Contents
The Labourer and the Nightingale
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, "thou shalt always sing to me.""We Nightingales never sing in a cage." said the bird.
"Then I'll eat thee." said the Labourer. "I have always heard say that a nightingale on toast is dainty morsel."
"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.
