Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CLXXXXV
Fab. CLXXXXV.
A Hen and a Swallow.
THere was a Foolish Hen that sat Brooding upon a Nest of Snakes Eggs. A Swallow, that Observ’d it, went and told her the Danger on’t. Little do you think, says she, what you are at this instant a Doing, and that You are just now Hatching Your Own Destruction; for This Good Office will be your Ruine.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
THIS is the Case of Many People in the World, that spend their Time in Good Offices for Others, to the Utter Ruine of Themselves: And there’s No Better to be Expected from a Wicked Age, and an Ill Natur'd People. They that want Foresight, should do well to Hearken to Good Council. He that thinks to Oblige Hard-Hearted People by an Officious Tenderness, and to fare the Better Himself for putting it into Their Power to Hurt him, will find only so much Time, Pains, and Good-Will, utterly cast away, at the Foot of his Account. 'Tis Good however, to Hope, and to Presume the Best, provided that a Man be Prepar'd for the Worst: Not forgetting the Old Proverb, That many a Man brings up a Bird to Peck out his Own Eyes. The Mistake lies in This, that the Charity begins Abroad that Ought to begin at Home. They that cannot see into the End of Things, may well be at a Loss in the Reason of them; and a Well-Meaning Piety is the Destruction of many an Honest Man, that fits Innocently Brooding upon the Political Projects of Other People, tho’ with the Heart all the While, of a Patriot, and a True Friend to the Publique. Tell him the Consequences of Matters, and that he is now Hatching of Serpents, not of Chickens: A Misguided Zeal makes him Deaf and Blind to the True State, and Issue of Things. He fits his Time out, and what's the End on't; but the Plot Naturally Discloses it self in a Common Ruine? It is a Great Infelicity to make a Wrong Choice of a Friend: But when Men are Adyertis’d of the Danger beforehand, it is as Great a Fault if they will take No Warning. The Hen was told on't, but the Swallow had the Fate, as well as the Gift of Cassadra; to speak Truth, and not to be believ’d: Which has been the Misfortune of many an Honest Man in All Times, and particularly in the very Age we live in.