098. THE OWL AND THE GRASSHOPPER. An owl sat sleeping in a tree, but a grasshopper, who was singing beneath, would not let her be quiet, abusing her with very indecent and uncivil language, telling her she was a scandalous person who plied a-nights to get her living, and shut herself up all day in a hollow tree.
The owl desired her to hold her tongue and be quiet, notwithstanding which she was the more impertinent. She begged of her a second time to leave off, but all to no purpose. The owl vexed at the heart to find that all she said went for nothing, cast about to inveigle her by stratagem. “Well,” says she, “since one must be kept awake, it is a pleasure, however, to be kept awake by so agreeable a voice, which I must confess is no ways inferior to the finest harp. And now I think of it, I have a bottle of excellent nectar, which my mistress Pallas gave me; if you have a mind, I will give you a dram to whet your whistle.”
The grasshopper, ready to die with thirst, and at the same time, pleased to be so complimented upon account of her voice, skipped up to the place very briskly; when the owl, advancing to meet her, seized, and, without much delay, made her a sacrifice to her revenge; securing to herself, by the death of her enemy, a possession of that quiet, which, during her life-time she could not enjoy. [more info]
The owl desired her to hold her tongue and be quiet, notwithstanding which she was the more impertinent. She begged of her a second time to leave off, but all to no purpose. The owl vexed at the heart to find that all she said went for nothing, cast about to inveigle her by stratagem. “Well,” says she, “since one must be kept awake, it is a pleasure, however, to be kept awake by so agreeable a voice, which I must confess is no ways inferior to the finest harp. And now I think of it, I have a bottle of excellent nectar, which my mistress Pallas gave me; if you have a mind, I will give you a dram to whet your whistle.”
The grasshopper, ready to die with thirst, and at the same time, pleased to be so complimented upon account of her voice, skipped up to the place very briskly; when the owl, advancing to meet her, seized, and, without much delay, made her a sacrifice to her revenge; securing to herself, by the death of her enemy, a possession of that quiet, which, during her life-time she could not enjoy. [more info]
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