An Eagle one day carried off the whelps of a Fox, and placed them in {her} nest before her young ones, for them to tear in pieces as food. The mother, following her, began to entreat that she would not cause such sorrow to her miserable {suppliant}. The other despised her, as being safe in the very situation of the spot. The Fox snatched from an altar a burning torch, and surrounded the whole tree with flames, intending to mingle anguish to her foe with the loss of her offspring. The Eagle, that she might rescue her young ones from the peril of death, in a suppliant manner restored to the Fox her whelps in safety. FABLE XXIX. THE ASS DERIDING THE BOAR. Fools often, while trying to raise a silly laugh, provoke others by gross affronts, and cause serious danger to themselves. An Ass meeting a Boar: “Good morrow to you, brother,” says he. The other indignantly rejects the salutation, and enquires why he thinks proper to utter such an untruth. The Ass, with legs[30] crouching down, replies: “If you deny that you are like me, at all events I have something very like your snout.” The Boar, just on the point of making a fierce attack, suppressed his rage, and {said}: “Revenge were easy for me, but I decline to be defiled with {such} dastardly blood.” [Footnote I.30: _The ass, with legs_)--Ver. 7. This line is somewhat modified in the translation.] FABLE XXX. THE FROGS FRIGHTENED AT THE BATTLE OF THE BULLS. When the powerful[31] are at variance, the lowly are the sufferers. A Frog, viewing from a marsh, a combat of some Bulls: “Alas!” said she, “what terrible destruction is threatening us.” Being asked by another why she said so, as the Bulls were contending for the sovereignty of the herd, and passed their lives afar from them: “Their habitation is at a distance,” {said she}, “and they are of a different kind; still, he who {is} expelled from the sovereignty of the meadow, will take to flight, {and} come to the secret hiding-places in the fens, and trample and crush us with his hard hoof. Thus does their fury concern our safety.” [Footnote I.31: _When the powerful_)--Ver. 1. This is similar to the line of Horace, “Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.”] FABLE XXXI. THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS. He who entrusts himself to the protection of a wicked man, while he seeks assistance, meets with destruction. Some Pigeons, having often escaped from a Kite, and by their swiftness of wing avoided death, the spoiler had recourse to stratagem, and by a crafty device of this nature, deceived the harmless race. “Why do you prefer to live a life of anxiety, rather than conclude a treaty, and make me {your} king, who can ensure your safety from every injury?” They, putting confidence in him, entrusted themselves to the Kite, who, on obtaining the sovereignty, began to devour them one by one, and to exercise authority with his cruel talons. Then said one of those that were left: “Deservedly are we smitten.” BOOK II.