The Eagle, the Falcon and the Doves
Once upon a time, beneath a deep blue sky under which silver rivers glided, there lived peaceful doves. These delicate birds built their nests on the high cliffs of the green valley and glided calmly, keeping to themselves. But this quiet life was often darkened by the shadow of the sharp-eyed eagle, the merciless master of the sky. Whenever he found the chance, the eagle swooped down from the sky like lightning and hunted the unlucky doves without mercy. Living in a constant fear, the poor doves began to seek remedies to escape this great threat. The assembly of the doves gathered and decided unanimously to take shelter with the swift hawk, another predator of the sky.
They went to the high cleft rock where the hawk dwelt and offered him a bright crown and absolute kingship. "O great hawk, if you protect us from the talons of the proud eagle, we shall proclaim you our just sovereign," they said. When the cunning hawk heard this tempting offer, he rejoiced inwardly and accepted the duty of protection at once. The new king, who mounted the throne with great ceremonies, settled first of all right in the middle of the safe nests of the doves. But before long the hawk, under the pretext of protection, established a terrifying tyranny over the poor doves. While the eagle contented himself now and then with a single prey, the new king used several doves every day for his feast.
The desperate birds understood with horror that the sovereign they had chosen as a refuge was in truth a far more destructive disaster than the eagle. An old dove, whose kin were dying away before his eyes, escaped from the talons of the hawk and cried out. "While we fled from a single threat of the eagle, by our own will we brought upon ourselves a far more cruel scourge," he wept. The doves, who had wholly lost their freedom and their peace in the sky, were left alone with this crushing disappointment. As for the hawk, who consumed his own people with his greed and his appetite, in the end he was left utterly alone on the empty cliffs. Taking shelter with a greater tyrant in order to escape one danger leads to disasters beyond repair. Out of the frying pan into the fire.