Aesop's Fables (Penguin Classics) - Aesop [36]
The best way to cure a boaster is by putting his words to the test.
CXCV
The Man and His Two Wives
There was once a time when a man was allowed more wives than one, and a middle-aged bachelor, who could be called neither young nor old, and whose hair was just beginning to turn gray, fell in love with two women at the same time and married them both. One was young and lively and wanted her husband to look youthful; the other was somewhat more advanced in age and was concerned that her husband look about the same age as she did. So, the young wife seized every opportunity to pull out all her dear husband’s gray hairs, while the older one zealously plucked out every black hair she could find. For a while the man was highly flattered by their attention and devotion until, one morning, he discovered that, thanks to his two wives, he did not have a hair left on his head.
Whoever allows his principles to be swayed by the influence and different needs of conflicting parties will end in having no principles at all.
CXCVI
The Shepherd and the Sea
A shepherd moved his flock down near the seashore so that the sheep could graze there, and as he looked at the sea lying in a smooth and breathless calm, he was overcome by a strong desire to sail over it. So he sold all his sheep and bought a cargo of dates. Then he loaded a vessel with the dates and set sail. He had not gone very far when a storm arose. His ship was wrecked, and his dates and cargo were lost. He himself had great difficulty escaping the sea and reaching land. Not long after this incident, when the sea was calm again, one of his friends, who had joined him on a walk along the seashore, began admiring its repose.
“Watch out, my good fellow,” the shepherd remarked. “That smooth surface is only on the lookout for your dates.”
CXCVII
The Miser
To make sure that his property would always remain safe and protected, a miser sold all that he had and converted it into one great lump of gold, which he hid in a hole in the ground. Since he went there continually to visit and inspect it, one of his workers became curious and suspected that his master had hidden a treasure. When the miser’s back was turned, the worker went to the spot and stole the gold. Soon thereafter the miser returned, and when he found the hole empty, he wept and tore his hair. But a neighbor, who witnessed his grief, told him, “Don’t fret any longer. Just take a stone and put it in the same place. Then imagine that it’s your lump of gold. Since you never meant to use it, the stone will be just as good as the gold.”
The value of money depends not on accumulation but in its use.
CXCVIII
Mercury and the Sculptor
Once Mercury wished to learn what men thought about him. So he disguised himself as a traveler and entered a sculptor’s workshop, where he began asking the price of the different statues he saw there. Pointing to an image of Jupiter, he asked how much the sculptor wanted for it.
“A drachma,” said the sculptor.
Mercury laughed up his sleeve and asked, “How much for this of Juno?”
The man wanted a higher price for that.
Mercury’s eye now caught sight of his own statue. “Most likely this fellow will ask ten times the price for this,” he thought. “After all, I’m heaven’s messenger and the source of all his gain.” So he asked the sculptor once more what he wanted for the statue of Mercury.
"Well," said the man, "if you give me what I ask for the other two, I’ll throw this into the bargain for nothing."
Those people who are too anxious to know what the world thinks of them will seldom fetch the price they set upon themselves.
CXCIX
The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass
A miller and his son were driving their ass to a nearby fair to sell him. They had not gone far when they came across a group of girls returning from town. They were in a merry mood, talking and laughing, and when they saw the miller and his son, one of them cried out, “Look there! Did you ever see such fools like those two, trudging on foot when they could be riding!”