A Tortoise, lazily basking in the sun, complained to the sea-birds of her
hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly. An Eagle, hovering near,
heard her lamentation and demanded what reward she would give him if he
would take her aloft and float her in the air. “I will give you,” she said, “all
the riches of the Red Sea.” “I will teach you to fly then,” said the Eagle; and
taking her up in his talons he carried her almost to the clouds suddenly he
let her go, and she fell on a lofty mountain, dashing her shell to pieces. The
Tortoise exclaimed in the moment of death: “I have deserved my present
fate; for what had I to do with wings and clouds, who can with difficulty
move about on the earth?’
