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The World’s Wit and Humor: An Encyclopedia in 15 Volumes. 1906.

Æsop (c. 620–560 B.C.) (attributed)

The Fox and the Stork

A FOX is said to have given a stork the first invitation to a banquet, and to have placed before her some thin broth in a flat dish, of which the hungry stork could in no way get a taste. Having invited the fox in return, she set before him a narrow-mouthed jar full of minced meat. Thrusting her beak into it, she ate heartily. Her guest was tormented with hunger; who, after having in vain licked the neck of the jar, thus addressed the strange bird, “Every one is bound to bear patiently the consequences of his own example.”

Harm should be done to no man; but if any one do an injury, this fable shows that he may be visited with a like return.