The Farmer and the Stork
posted in Birds misc, People |A Farmer placed nets on his newly-sown farming land and caught a number of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed.
One day he trapped a Stork that had fractured his leg in the net. The Stork earnestly beseeched the Farmer to spare his life.
“Pray save me, Master,” he said, “and let me go free this one time. Have pity on me for my broken leg. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character. Look too, at my feathers— they are not the least like those of a Crane.”
The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.”
Moral: Be careful who you hang out with.