Page:Hours Spent in Prison.djvu/49

 Then after a while, the snake thought: “Perhaps it is well to be in the sky, if this hawk yearns so much after it.”

Then he gave the hawk the following advice:

“Come nearer to the edge of the rock, and then throw thyself down. Perhaps thy wings will lift thee, then at least one moment thou wilt live as thou likest in thy element.”

The hawk started up, uttered a weak groan, and slowly approached the gaping beach, over the slippery stones.

He drew near, spread his pompous wings, breathed freely, and his eyes glittered, and finally he fell down the precipice. With great force he struck himself against the rock and fell swiftly, breaking his wings and losing his feathers.

The waves below soon seized him, washed off his blood, covered him with foam, and carried him off to the sea.