the pangs of hunger. One morning, however, when he was about
to sally forth from his den, he perceived, to his no small
astonishment, at the mouth of it a camel kneeling, with the hinder
part of his body turned towards him. The fox said to himself, 'Here is
good luck,' and made a foolhardy attempt to drag the animal into the
cave by tying a rope to its tail, and to commence pulling at it with
all his might. To make sure of his prey the fox had tied the other end
of the rope to his own body, but when he began to jerk it rather
strongly the camel became vexed, jumped up suddenly, and first
discharging both urine and dung upon Reynard, began to shake himself
violently. The fox dangled in the air, and was repeatedly knocked
against the flanks of the gigantic animal. Then the fox repented of
his silly attempt to feast on camel meat, and knew that his
death-knell would shortly sound. Luckily an ichneumon happened to be
standing close by, amazed at the strange spectacle, and the fox
implored it to intercede for him. Accordingly, the ichneumon addressed
the camel in the following strain: 'Friend giant! it is meet that the
strong, hoping for an eternal reward, should have mercy upon the weak!
Here is a poor stranger who has accidentally become entangled with
your tail. He will be strangled; you may save his life and become his
deliverer by letting him go.' The camel then released the fox, who
would assuredly have lost his life if the ichneumon had not interceded
for him." When the male partridge had heard this story he fully
approved of the moral of it, which is to the effect that ignorant and
weak individuals are generally foiled in their designs against those
who are powerful. He therefore considered that it would be best to
throw themselves upon the mercy of the eagle, and said: "We must pay a
visit to his majesty the eagle, explain our case to him, implore his
mercy, and enroll ourselves among the number of his servants. We may
succeed by gaining his favour; he is the king of all the birds, and
carnivorous, but for all we know his disposition may be so merciful
that he will spare our offspring not only himself, but order all the
other birds of prey, his subjects, to do likewise."

'Then the she-partridge exclaimed: "Your advice is indeed wonderful!
You propose nothing less than that we should court our own perdition,
and of our own accord run into a trap! The eagle in treacherous, and
would deal with us like the heron dealt