A lark and a wren, perched on the top of a tall tree, were conversing once about the dangers of cuckholdry.
Said the lark, “My sister was fooled by a cuckoo only last year; in her nest were three eggs, one unlike the others. That vile chick ate all the food that she could supply, until it was ready to burst from gluttony.”
“What a fool is your sister!” said the wren. “One egg was not like the others. The deception is surely obvious. I should not have made such a mistake.”
A cuckoo, overhearing, sped fast away to the wren’s nest, where she found three small eggs. Pushing two over the side, she laid her own pair of eggs next to the wren’s remaining one.
Returning, and thinking herself wise, the wren pushed her one egg out of the nest and settled down to warm the remaining two.
Hindsight: a fable
A lark and a wren, perched on the top of a tall tree, were conversing once about the dangers of cuckholdry.
Said the lark, “My sister was fooled by a cuckoo only last year; in her nest were three eggs, one unlike the others. That vile chick ate all the food that she could supply, until it was ready to burst from gluttony.”
“What a fool is your sister!” said the wren. “One egg was not like the others. The deception is surely obvious. I should not have made such a mistake.”
A cuckoo, overhearing, sped fast away to the wren’s nest, where she found three small eggs. Pushing two over the side, she laid her own pair of eggs next to the wren’s remaining one.
Returning, and thinking herself wise, the wren pushed her one egg out of the nest and settled down to warm the remaining two.