有一天，当捕鸟人正坐在餐桌边吃着仅有香草和面包的晚餐时，一个朋友不期而至。食品柜已经空了，于是捕鸟人跑出去捉那只驯养的鹧鸪，它可是一直被当做诱饵留下来的。就在捕鸟人要拧断她的脖子时，鹧鸪大嘁道：“你确定要杀了我吗？为什么，要是没有我，你下次捕鸟时该怎么办呢？你如何能吸引那些鸟儿走到你的网里来呢？”听了这番话，捕鸟人就放了鹧鸪，走到鸡舍那边，准备去捉那只胖乎平的小公鸡。公鸡看到自己将要成为下一个被杀的目标，也求主人饶命，并且说：“如果你杀了我，怎么能知道夜晚的时间呢？谁能在清晨唤醒你，到时候该去干活了呢？”然而，捕鸟人却回答说：“我知道，你的确能告诉我时间，尽管如此，我也不能让朋友饿着肚子去睡觉呀。”随后，他便捉住公鸡，拧断了它的脖子。
【捕鸟人、鹧鸪和公鸡的英文版】
THE FOWLER, THE PARTRIDGE, AND THE COCK
One day，as a Fowler was sitting down to a scanty supper of herbs and bread，a friend dropped in unexpectedly.The larder was empty；SO he went out and caught a tame Partridge，which he kept as a decoy，and was about to wring her neck when she cried，“Surely you won’t kill me?Why.what will you do without me next time you go fowling?How will you get the birds to come to your nets?”He let her go at this，and went to his hen-house，where he had a plump young Cock.When the Cock saw what he was after，he too pleaded for his life，and said，“If you kill me，how will you know the time of night?and who will wake you up in the morning when it is time to get to work?”The Fowler，however，replied，“You are useful for telling the time，I know；but，for all that，I carl’t send my friend supperless to bed.”And therewith he caught him and wrung his neck.