The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Tertius/Fable 5
¶ The v fable is of the nyghtyngale and of the sperehawke
E that oppresseth the Innocents
shalle haue an euyl ende / wherof
Esope reherceth to vs suche a
fable / Of a sperehawk / whiche
dyd put hym within the nest of
a nyghtyngale / where he fond the lytyl and
yonge byrdes / the nyghtyngale came and perceyued
hym / wherfore she praed the sperehawke / sayeng/ I requyre and praye the as
moche as I may / that thow haue pyte on
my smal byrdes / And the sperehawke ansuerd
and sayd / yf thow wylt that I graunte the
thy request / thow must synge swetely after my
wylle and gree And thenne the nyghtyngale
beganne to synge swetely / not with the herte /
but with the throte onely / For he was so fulled
with sorowe that otherwyse he myght not doo /
The sperehawk sayd thenne to the nyghtyngale /
This songe playseth me not / And toke one of the
yonge byrdes and deuoured hit / And as the sayd
sperehawke would haue deuoured and eten the
other came there a hunter whiche dyd caste a grete nette vpon the sperehawk / And whanne she
wold haue fleen awey / he myght not / for he
was taken / And therfore he that doth harme &
letteth the Innocents / is worthy to deye of euylle
dethe / As Caym dyd whiche slewe his broder
Abel