Once a fox invited a stork to dinner. He put nothing on the table except some soup in a very shallow dish.
The fox could easily lap up the soup, but the stork could only wet the end of her long bill in it. When she left the meal, she was still very hungry. "I am sorry," said the fox, "the soup is not to your taste."
"Please do not apologize," said the stork. "I hope you will come to my house, and dine with me soon."
A few days later the fox visited the stork. He found that his food was put in a long bottle, and the mouth of the bottle was very narrow. He could not insert his big mouth into it, so he ate nothing.
"I will not apologize," said the stork. "One bad turn deserves another." 一次，狐狸請鸛來吃飯。他除了淺盤子中的一點湯以外，什麼也沒有準備。 狐狸可以輕而易舉地喝到湯，但是鸛只夠蘸溼他長長的嘴尖。吃完飯後，鸛仍舊很飢餓。"很抱歉！"狐狸說，"這湯不合你的口味"。 "別客氣，"鸛說，"過幾天請到我家來和我一起吃飯吧。" 幾天後，狐狸應邀而至，他發現食物都裝在一個長長的瓶子裏，而瓶口很細，他無法將他的大嘴伸進去，什麼也吃不到。 "我不想道歉，這是你應得的回報。"鸛說。
