Aesop's Fables (Penguin Classics) - Aesop [23]
“I’m sorry about this,” said the fisherman, “but it is only by troubling the waters that I can earn my living.”
CXVI
The Lark and Her Young Ones
There was once a nest of young larks in a field of corn that had just become ripe, and the mother was on the lookout every day for the reapers. Whenever she went in search of food, she told her young ones to report all the news they heard to her. One day, while she was absent, the master came to inspect the condition of the crops.
“It’s high time to call together my neighbors and reap my corn,” he said.
When the mother lark came home, the young ones told her what they had heard and begged her to remove them from the field right away.
“There’s plenty of time,” she said. “If he’s counting on his neighbors, he’ll have to wait a while yet for his harvest.”
Next day, however, the owner came again, and finding the sun even hotter, the corn riper, and nothing done, he said, “There’s not a moment to lose. Since I can’t depend on my neighbors, I must call together my relatives.” And, turning to his son, he said, “Go call your uncles and cousins, and see whether they can begin tomorrow.”
In greater fear than ever before, the young ones repeated the farmer’s words to their mother.
“If that’s all there is,” she said, “don’t be frightened, for the relatives have their own harvest work to finish. But be sure you pay attention to what you hear the next time, and let me know what the farmer says.”
The following day the mother went out in search of food, and the owner came once again. Finding that the corn was falling to the ground because it was too ripe, and seeing that nobody was at work, he called to his son.
“We can no longer wait for our neighbors and friends. Go and hire some reapers tonight, and we’ll get to work ourselves tomorrow.”
When the young ones told their mother what they had heard, she said, “Well then, it’s time to be off, for when a man makes up his mind to do his work himself instead of leaving it to others to do, you can be sure that he means to do what he says.”
Self-help is the best help.
CXVII
The Arab and the Camel
After having loaded his camel, an Arab asked the beast whether he preferred to go up hill or down hill.
“Tell me, master,” responded the camel, “has someone blocked the straight way across the plain?”
CXVIII
The Travelers and the Hatchet
Two men were traveling along the same road when one of them picked up a hatchet and cried, “Look what I’ve found!”
“Don’t say I,” responded the other, “but look what we have found.”
Some time later the man who had lost the hatchet appeared and claimed that the man who found it had stolen it.
“Alas,” the accused said to his companion, “we are done for.”
“Don’t say we,” the other replied, “but I am done for. Remember, whoever doesn’t let his friend share the prize cannot expect him to share the danger.”
CXIX
The Doctor and His Patient
A doctor had been treating a sick man for some time when the man died under his care. At the funeral the doctor walked about talking to the relatives and said, “If only our poor friend had refrained from drinking wine and had taken care of his body, he would not be lying here.”
“My good sir,” one of the mourners responded, “your words are really useless right now. You should have offered these prescriptions when your patient was still alive to take them.”
The best advice may come too late.
CXX
The Maid and the Pail of Milk
A country maid was carrying a pail of milk on her head to the farmhouse when she began daydreaming and musing. “The money that I earn from this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. If I take into account that some of these eggs may be rotten and some may be destroyed by vermin, I should be able to get at least