The Fowler, the Partridge and the Cock
Long ago, an old fowler lived at the edge of an ancient forest where cool waters flowed. In the small garden of this man, a sweet partridge and a proud rooster lived together. The partridge sang soft notes in its cage, while the rooster woke everyone each morning with his loud crowing. One day, late in the afternoon, an important guest came to the fowler's house from a distant road. The old fowler went straight to the kitchen to prepare a fine supper for his guest. Because no meat was left in the house, he walked quietly to the partridge in the cage first.
The partridge understood this and began at once to beg the old man, trembling with fear. The partridge said, "Please do not kill me, and I will help you catch the other partridges in the forest." When the fowler heard this cunning offer, he sighed deeply and shut the door of the cage. Then he moved quickly toward the bright-feathered rooster that was strolling calmly in the garden. The rooster cried out in alarm and asked, "I wake you early every morning, so how can you harm me?" The fowler looked at the rooster and answered, "Sometimes you crow at midnight and steal my sleep."
The fowler did not forgive the partridge, because its cunning offered to trap its own kind. He thought that the friendship of a creature which sells its own friends would never help him. The old man punished the sly partridge that betrayed its own race and made it his supper. So the fowler spared the honest rooster, and the bird went on with its life in the garden in safety. From that day on, the rooster took great care to crow only at the proper hours. Cunning ones who betray their own friends fall in the end into the pit they dug themselves. He who sows the wind reaps the storm.