The Sick Kite

by Aesop

A KITE, sick unto death, said to his mother: O Mother! do not mourn, but at once invoke the gods that my life may be prolonged. She replied: Alas! my son, which of the gods do you think will pity you? Is there one whom you have not outraged by filching from their very altars a part of the sacrifice which had been offered up to them?

Moral:
We must make friends in prosperity, if we would have their help in adversity.

Source:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.