One night, some thieves entered a house. But they couldn’t find anything worth stealing except an old cock. They took it away with them. “Let us kill the cock so that we can at least have a good meal,” said one thief.
As they were about to cut his head, the cock pleaded, “Please don’t kill me! I am very useful to man. Every morning I crow and wake people up. Please have mercy.” The thieves were taken aback to hear the cock speak. Then another thief said, “By waking people up early, you make stealing difficult for us. It is because of you that our livelihood is spoilt. We have all the more reason to kill you.” Saying this, the thieves cut off the head of the cock and put him in a pot over the fire.
The poor cock was foolish enough to get killed by his own argument.