The Tortoise and the Eagle

英语自学网

The Tortoise and the Eagle
    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?'  
    If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined.