Hark to those painful cries which pierce each day the silent forest! Alas, they are the cries of six thousand quails. Poor little birds! Each day a man comes from the village and casts a net over them as they land on the ground. After throwing the net, he pulls it together, catching hundreds of quails which he takes to the village to sell.
Now one day King Quail said: “Cry no more, my little ones. If you heed your King’s words you will never be caught. When the net is thrown over you, put your heads through the holes, and all together fly up, lifting the net through the air. If then you land o the top of a thorny hill, the prickles will hold the net above the ground and you can escape from under it before the villager reaches the hill. Do as I say, and you will all be saved. But if one day quarrels arise, and you should begin to fight one with another, alas! That day you will be caught and you will never see the woods again”.
The quails did as their King advised, and when the net was thrown over them they flew up to a hill with it and escaped. And the villager returned each day without a penny, and his wife was very, very angry.
“Do not worry”, said he one evening to his wife. “Those naughty quails will fight together one of these days and then they will be easily caught”. And it happened one day that a quail stepped on the head of another. “I will give you what you deserve!” cried the injured quail in anger, jumping at the other, and knocking his wing. “Away with you, away with you”, he cried
.
King Quail, seeing the quarrel, said to the others: “Let us not stay here. These two unhappy birds will surely come to a bad end”. And he flew off with those who heeded his warning. And while the two quarrelsome quails went on fighting, a strange dark cloud came over their heads. It was the net!
Many others were caught with them and taken to the village to be killed. But the wise King Quail, and those who heeded his counsel, were never caught. And in the silent little forest they all lived happy ever after.
