The Eagle and the Kite

Title Here (Joseph Jacobs's Version)


(From the book The Fables of Aesop: Selected, Told Anew, and Their History Traced by Joseph Jacobs, done into pictures by Richard Heighway — Public Domain)


The Eagle and the Kite (George Fyler Townsend's Version)

An Eagle, overwhelmed with sorrow, sat upon the branches of a tree in company with a Kite. “Why,” said the Kite, “do I see you with such a rueful look?” “I seek,” she replied, “a mate suitable for me, and am not able to find one.” “Take me,” returned the Kite, “I am much stronger than you are.” “Why, are you able to secure the means of living by your plunder?” “Well, I have often caught and carried away an ostrich in my talons.” The Eagle, persuaded by these words, accepted him as her mate. Shortly after the nuptials, the Eagle said, “Fly off and bring me back the ostrich you promised me.” The Kite, soaring aloft into the air, brought back the shabbiest possible mouse, stinking from the length of time it had lain about the fields. “Is this,” said the Eagle, “the faithful fulfillment of your promise to me?” The Kite replied, “That I might attain your royal hand, there is nothing that I would not have promised, however much I knew that I must fail in the performance.”

(From the book Three Hundred Æsop’s Fables Literally Translated from the Greek by the Rev. George Fyler Townsend, M.A. — Public Domain)


Title Here (V. S. Vernon Jones's Version)


(From the book Aesop's Fables: A New Translation by V. S. Vernon Jones, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton and illustrations by Arthur Rackham — Public Domain)


Title Here (Milo Winter's Version)


(From the book The Æsop for Children, with pictures by Milo Winter — Public Domain)


Title Here (J. H. Stickney's Version)


(From the book Æsop’s Fables: A Version for Young Readers by J. H. Stickney, illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull — Public Domain)


Title Here (Samuel Croxall's Version)


(From the book Æsop's Fables, Embellished with One Hundred and Eleven Emblematical Devices. Translator: Samuel Croxall — Public Domain)


Title Here (Thomas Bewick's Version)


(From the book The Fables of Æsop, and Others, with designs on wood by Thomas Bewick — Public Domain)


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