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一只老鹰和一只狐狸是非常要好的朋友，为了进一步加强两者之间的了解和,决定比邻而居。于是，老鹰就在一棵很高的树上筑巢，并孵下几只小鹰；而狐狸则在树下的灌木丛里造窝，生下小狐狸。 可是有一天,趁狐狸出去觅食之机，饥饿的老鹰飞快地冲进灌木丛里，把小狐狸抓回巢里作为自己与小鹰的食物。狐狸回来后，知道了小狐狸被老鹰抓走的，非常伤心难过。更为悲伤的是，自己根本无法替死去的小狐狸报仇。像它这样,不会飞，又怎么能追击一只鸟呢？狐狸所能做的就是像其他弱小的动物那样，站在远处诅咒比自己强大的敌人。 但是，没过多久，亵渎神圣友谊的老鹰就遭到了报应。有人在野外杀羊祭神，这只老鹰却飞到祭坛上把着了火的羊内脏抓回巢里。这时，正好刮起一阵大风，火一下子就蔓延到鸟巢的干草上。结果那些羽翼未丰满、尚未离巢的小鹰就被烧死,从树上掉到了地上，狐狸看到便立刻冲过去，当着老鹰的面，把小鹰一只只吃掉了。 The Reward of the Wicked An eagle and a vixen became friends and decided to live near each other in the hope that closer-acquaintance would cement their friendship. The eagle flew to the top of a very tall tree and laid her eggs there, while the vixen gave birth to her cubs in a thicket underneath. One day the vixen went off in search of food. The eagle, feeling hungry, swooped into the bushes, snatched up the cubs, and made a meal of them with her brood. The vixen came back and saw what had happened. She was less distressed by the loss of Her young children than by the difficulty of punishing the eagle. How could she，tied down to earth as she was, pursue a bird? Ail she could do was to stand far off and curse her enemy like any weak and feeble creature. But it chanced before long that the eagle was punished for violating the sanctity of friendship. Some men were sacrificing a goat in a field, and the eagle darted down onto the altar and carried off a burning piece of offal to her nest. Just then a strong wind sprang up and fanned into a blaze the bits of dry stalk of which the nest was made. The result was that the nestlings，which were not yet fully fledged，were burnt and fell to the ground. The vixen ran to the spot and gobbled up every one of them right under the eagle’s eyes. |
