# The Eagle and the Arrow explained — Aesop's Fables

> Chapter companion for Aesop's Fables by Aesop.

## What happens

An eagle perched on a rock is shot by a huntsman with an arrow fletched with an eagle's own feathers, leading the dying eagle to lament the cruel irony of being killed by its own kind.

## Themes in this chapter

### Justice and Consequence

The eagle's death is a direct consequence of its own feathers being used against it, illustrating a poetic justice.

### Human Nature and Vice

The huntsman's use of the eagle's own feathers to kill it reflects human cunning and the exploitation of an adversary's strengths.

## Character check-ins

### The Eagle

The eagle is shot and killed by an arrow fletched with its own feathers, lamenting the irony of its fate.

## Key lines

> Ah! cruel fate! that I should perish thus: but oh! fate more cruel still, that the Arrow which kills me should be winged with an Eagle's feathers!

The eagle laments not just its death, but the bitter irony that the arrow was made from its own feathers.

_Highlights the central irony and moral of the fable._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters/the-eagle-and-the-arrow
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters