Some Cranes made their feeding grounds on some plough-lands newly sown with wheat. For a long time the Farmer, brandishing¹ an empty sling², chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of it, and would not move. The farmer, on seeing this, charged his sling with stones, and killed a great number. They at once forsook³ his plough-lands, and cried to each other: "It is time for us to be off, for this man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in earnest what he can do."

If words suffice not, blows must follow.