An Ant went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point if drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to the Ant, which climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank. Shortly afterwards a birdcatcher came to the tree and laid his lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in its branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing.

From Aesop’s Fables, translated by George Fyler Townsend, Collins Classics, London: Harper Press, 2011, p. 298.