The Owl and the Nightingale

There was once a nightingale in a cage by a window, that was his habit to sing only at night. An owl was puzzled by this and went to ask the nightingale what the reason was. “When I was captured,” explained the nightingale, “ it was day and I was singing. In this way I learnt to be more carefully and to sing only at night.”

“Are you afraid you might be captured a second time?” asked the owl. “Oh, it would have been better if you had been more careful the first time when your freedom was at risk. Now it doesn’t really matter any more, right?”