AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the underwood and there produced her young. Not long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The Fox on her return, discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.
ワシとキツネが親しい友だちになり、近くに住むことにした。ワシは高い木の枝に巣をつくり、キツネはその下のやぶにもぐりこんで、そこで子を産んだ。この取り決めをしてまもなく、ワシはひなたちに食べさせるものがなくなり、キツネの留守に舞い降りて子ギツネを一匹さらい、ひなたちといっしょにごちそうにしてしまった。帰ってきたキツネは何が起こったかを知ったが、子どもが死んだことよりも、その仇を討てないことのほうをいっそう悲しんだ。しかし、まもなくワシに当然の報いが下った。村人たちがヤギをいけにえにささげている祭壇の近くを飛んでいたとき、ワシは突然その肉をひと切れつかみ、燃えている燃えさしといっしょに巣へ運んでしまった。やがて強い風がその火の粉をあおって炎にし、まだ羽も生えそろわず、身を守ることもできないワシのひなたちは、巣の中で焼けて、木の根もとに落ちて死んだ。そしてそこで、ワシの見ている前で、キツネがひなたちをぺろりと平らげたのだった。