农夫与鹤

Belinda

SOME CRANES made their feeding grounds on some plowlands newly

sown with wheat. For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an

empty sling, chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when

the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they

ceased to take any notice of it and would not move. The Farmer,

on seeing this, charged his sling with stones, and killed a great

number. The remaining birds at once forsook his fields, crying

to each other, "It is time for us to be off to Liliput: for this

man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in

earnest what he can do."

If words suffice not, blows must follow.