Page:The Fables of Æsop (Jacobs).djvu/168



LABOURER lay listening to a Nightingale's song throughout the summer night. So pleased was he with it that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. "Now that I have caught thee," he cried, "thou shalt always sing to me."

"We Nightingales never sing in a cage," said the bird.

"Then I'll eat thee," said the Labourer. "I have always heard say that nightingale on toast is a dainty morsel."

"Nay, kill me not," said the Nightingale; but let me free, and I'll tell thee three things far better worth than my poor body." The Labourer let him loose, and he flew up to a