The Fox And The Pheasants

by Aesop

　　One moonlight evening as Master Fox was taking his usual strollin the woods, he saw a number of Pheasants perched quite out ofhis reach on a limb of a tall old tree. The sly Fox soon found abright patch of moonlight, where the Pheasants could see himclearly; there he raised himself up on his hind legs, and began awild dance. First he whirled 'round and 'round like a top, thenhe hopped up and down, cutting all sorts of strange capers. ThePheasants stared giddily. They hardly dared blink for fear oflosing him out of their sight a single instant.

　　Now the Fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and laystill, playing dead, and the next instant he was hopping on allfours, his back in the air, and his bushy tail shaking so that itseemed to throw out silver sparks in the moonlight.

　　By this time the poor birds' heads were in a whirl. And when theFox began his performance all over again, so dazed did theybecome, that they lost their hold on the limb, and fell down oneby one to the Fox.

　　Too much attention to danger may cause us to fall victims toit.