Some Cranes made their feeding grounds on some plowlands newly sown with wheat.
For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, 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. The
remaining birds at once forsook his fields, crying to each other, "It is time
for us to be off to Liliput: for this man is no longer content to scare us, but
begins to show us in earnest what he can do."