The Spendthrift and the Swallow

A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his
patrimony and had but one good cloak left.  One day he happened
to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming
along a pool and twittering gaily¹.  He supposed that summer had
come, and went and sold his cloak.  Not many days later, winter
set in again with renewed frost and cold.  When he found the
unfortunate Swallow lifeless on the ground, he said, "Unhappy
bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the springtime
you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought² my
destruction also."