An Eagle swooped down upon a Serpent and seized it in his talons with the intention5
of carrying it o and devouring6 it. But the Serpent was too quick for him and had its
coils round him in a moment; and then there ensued a life-and-death struggle between
the two. A countryman, who was a witness of the encounter, came to the assistance of
the eagle, and succeeded in freeing him from the Serpent and enabling him to escape.
In revenge, the Serpent spat some of his poison into the man's drinking-horn.
Heated with his exertions7, the man was about to slake his thirst
with a draught8 from the horn, when the Eagle knocked
it out of his hand, and spilled its contents upon the ground