The Kite and the Doves

During the Middle Ages new versions of the fable developed in Latin, of which Odo of Cheriton recorded several at the end of the 12th century. One of these is a variant of The Frogs Who Desired a King in which the frogs have elected a log to rule over them and, when that is perceived as of no value, choose a snake instead and are eaten by it. Another concerns chickens, or else birds generally, who elect a dove to be their ruler because it is mild and will do them no harm; but when it is perceived as lacking authority, they choose a kite in its place and are then preyed upon by it.^[3] In the version of Romulus Anglicus, doves who are living in a state of general threat elect a falcon as their protector,^[4] while according to Walter of England the doves are at war with the kites and choose a hawk to defend them.^[5] The latter story ends with the detail that the hawk kills many more of them than had perished formerly and concludes with the advice that the remedy should not make a bad situation worse.

Versions of Walter's story were perpetuated in English by William Caxton and Roger L'Estrange.^[6] Elsewhere in Europe it formed the basis of Neo-Latin poems by Hieronymus Osius^[7] and Pantaleon Candidus.^[8] The fable was also adapted by John Hawkesworth into his reflective political poem, "The Danger of trusting Individuals with exorbitant Power".^[9] In that, the king of the doves prays to Jove for help against a marauding kite and is changed in form to a more powerful bird of prey. After his victory, however, the king becomes an even worse tyrant in his turn. The political moral that Hawkesworth drew from this was similar to Croxall's in requiring a democratic system of checks and balances:

Wrongs to redress, ne'er arm alone your friend,

But cloth'd in equal Might his steps attend.

• Illustrations from old books: a) The kite variant; the hawk variant