Prevod

An eagle and a fox agreed to be friends and decided to live near one another, hoping that constant companionship would strengthen their friendship. So the eagle built his nest in a tall tree, while the fox made her den in the thicket beneath it and gave birth to her cubs. One day, when she had gone out in search of food, the eagle, finding himself short of provisions, swooped down into the thicket, snatched up the cubs, and feasted on them with his own nestlings. When the fox returned and learned what had happened, she grieved less over the death of her young than over her helplessness to avenge them: being a creature of the earth, she could not pursue one that flew. So she stood at a distance and cursed her enemy—the only recourse left to the weak and powerless. Before long, however, the eagle paid the penalty for betraying their friendship. Some people were sacrificing a goat in the countryside, and he swooped down upon the altar and carried off a piece of the entrails with a live ember clinging to it. Once he had brought it to his nest, a strong gust of wind fanned the dry, brittle straw into a bright flame. The nestlings were burned and fell to the ground, for the young eagles were not yet able to fly. The fox ran up and devoured every one of them before the eagle’s eyes.

The fable shows that those who betray a friendship may escape punishment at the hands of those they have wronged because their victims are powerless, but they cannot escape divine retribution.