The Labourer And The Nightingale |
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The Labourer And The Nightingale
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, "though 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
nightingale on toast is a 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.
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