The Eagle and the Hawk

Abstract

I am glad to see this fable show up here. The lonesome single female eagle gives in to the promises of the male hawk that, if they marry, he will support her well and bring her even a big dog. After they marry, she asks him to get her some food. He brings back a mouse. Challenged about his promises, he answers I would have promised you the world just to win your hand. I do not think that the tradition usually sees this fable in terms of romance, as this version does in its moral: Love is sweet in the beginning but sour at the ending. Daly (#574) applies it to marriage but not to love: For women who find themselves mated with cowards when they try to improve their fortune.