| Master Crow perched on a tree, |
| Was holding a cheese in his beak. |
| Master Fox attracted by the smell |
| Said something like this: |
| "Well, Hello Mister Crow! |
| How beautiful you are! how nice you seem to me! |
| Really, if your voice |
| Is like your plumage, |
| You are the phoenix of all the inhabitants of these woods." |
| At these words, the Crow is overjoyed. |
| And in order to show off his beautiful voice, |
| He opens his beak wide, lets his prey fall |
| The Fox grabs it, and says: "My good man, |
| Learn that every flatterer |
| Lives at the expense of the one who listens to him. |
| This lesson, whitout doubt, is well worth a cheese." |
| The Crow, ashamed and embarrassed, |
| Swore, but a little late, that he would not be taken again. |
