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Aesop’s Fables
27. THE EAGLE AND THE The lamb bleated and struggled. But it was
no use. The eagle had him firmly gripped
JACKDAW
in his talons. Up and up he flew again,
higher and higher, the lamb swinging from
By Sue Reid his claws.
‘Oh my, look at that bird!’ a Jackdaw The Jackdaw had had enough. ‘I’ll show
exclaimed to her husband one day. High her,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I’m just as
above the nest a great eagle was soaring. big and strong as that eagle. She’ll see.’
‘Oh isn’t he magnificent,’ she sighed He hopped out of the nest. Then flapping
watching him circle and swoop. She his wings he flew down to a bush.
leant over the nest to take a better look.
Perched next to her was her husband His eyes gleamed as they lit on the farm-
who pushed back his shades and looked er’s prize ram. ‘Won’t she be surprised
out to see what the fuss was all about. when I bring that ram back for tea?’ he
chuckled. And putting on his fiercest
‘Hmm. He’s just an eagle,’ he grumbled. expression down he plopped, onto the
‘I’m as fine a bird as him!’ ram’s back.
The nest was full of things he’d collected. ‘Up we go!’ he cawed happily, flapping his
Rings, bottle tops, feathers. The Jackdaw wings and rising up into the air again. But
smiled, looking at the glittering heap. ‘Mrs all that was swinging from his claws was
Jackdaw,’ he said to his wife. ‘You are a a bit of wool.
lucky bird. Look at all the beautiful things
I’ve brought you.’ He dropped down again and tugged a bit
harder. But he couldn’t budge the ram.
‘Humph!’ grumbled the Jackdaw’s wife. Up and down the Jackdaw jumped, furi-
‘What use is it? You can’t eat feathers ously flapping his wings and tugging at
and bottle tops! If only you brought back the ram’s woolly coat. But he couldn’t lift
something useful for a change.’ the ram.
The Jackdaw was very cross. He stared
at the eagle as it swooped downwards.
Suddenly he heard a bleat. The eagle
had seized a lamb that had got separated
from the flock in the pasture below.
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School Radio
‘Silly old bird,’ said Mrs Jackdaw, who
was watching. ‘He thinks he’s an eagle!’
The Jackdaw pulled and he tugged, but
the more he tugged and the more he
pulled the more his claws got caught in
the ram’s woolly coat until he could hardly
move at all.
Leaning by the gate, a shepherd had
been watching. He ran up to the ram.
‘Silly old bird,’ the shepherd said taking
out a pair of scissors to clip his wings. ‘I’m
taking you home with me. Can’t have you
messing with my flock.’
When he got home that night the shep-
herd put the Jackdaw down on the table.
‘Come and see what I’ve brought you,’ he
said to his children. The children crowded
round the table.
‘What sort of bird is it, father?’ one of them
asked.
‘Well I call it a jackdaw, but he thinks he’s
an eagle,’ the shepherd chuckled. He
gave the Jackdaw a stern look. ‘Perhaps
you’ve learned your lesson now,’ he said.
The Jackdaw hung his head.
Up in the Jackdaw’s nest, his wife
stretched out happily. ‘I’ve seen the last
of him,’ she said. ‘And good riddance too.
Useless bird. Fancy thinking he was an
eagle!’
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