A sportsman went out into a wood to shoot and met a snipe.
"Dear friend," said the snipe, "don't shoot my children."
"How shall I know your children?" asked the sportsman. "What are they like?"
"Oh!" said the snipe, "mine are the prettiest children in all the wood."
"Very well," said the sportsman, "I won't shoot them. Don't be afraid."
But when he came back, he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the snipe. "Why did you shoot my children after all?"
"What? These your children!" said the sportsman. "Why, I shot the ugliest I could find!"
"Poor them!" said the snipe. "Don't you know that each one thinks his own children are the prettiest in the world?"