500. Turdus et Merula. Merula, suspiciens milvum magno ambitu aera circinantem ingentesque eiulatus edentem, vehementer exterrita est. Cui turdus “Ne trepida, soror,” inquit, “tantos pugnae apparatus; totque minas in exiguum murem aut in pullum gallinaceum tandem effundet. Cavendum nobis est ab accipitre, cuius prius ungues quam vocem sentire solemus.” Fabula indicat magis quietos et tacitos homines quam minaces et verbosos extimescendos.
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M0500 (not in Perry). Source: Abstemius 159. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Perry omitted most of Abstemius’s fables. Compare the fable about the farmer and the river, #822, which has a similar moral. See also the different ways in which the bees attack, #676.
