260.The Old Woman and the Doctor
An old woman became almost totally blind from a disease of the eyes, and, after consulting a doctor, made an agreement with him in the presence of witnesses that she should pay him a high fee if he cured her, while if he failed he was to receive nothing. The doctor accordingly prescribed a course of treatment, and every time he paid her a visit he took away with him some article out of the house, until at last, when he visited her for the last time, and the cure was complete, there was nothing left.
When the old woman saw that the house was empty she refused to pay him his fee; and, after repeated refusals on her part, he sued her before the magistrates for payment of her debt. On being brought into court she was ready with her defense. “The claimant,” said she, “has stated the facts about our agreement correctly. I undertook to pay him a fee if he cured me, and he, on his part, promised to charge nothing if he failed. Now, he says I am cured. But I say that I am blinder than ever, and I can prove what I say. When my eyes were bad I could at any rate see well enough to be aware that my house contained a certain amount of furniture and other things. But now, when according to him I am cured, I am entirely unable to see anything there at all.”
259.The Old Trout, the Young Trout, and the Salmon
A fisherman, in the month of May, stood angling on the bank of a river with an artificial fly. He threw his bait with so much art that a young trout was rushing towards it, when she was prevented by her mother. “Stop, child!” said she. “Never be too hasty where there is a possibility of danger. Take due time to consider, before you risk an action that may be fatal. How do you know whether that is indeed a fly, or the snare of an enemy? Let someone else make the experiment before you. If it be a fly, he will very probably elude the first attack, and then the second may be made if not with success, at least with safety.”
She had no sooner uttered this caution than a salmon seized upon the pretended fly, and was captured.
Do not rush into a strange position.
258.The Old Man and Death
An old man cut himself a bundle of sticks in a wood and started to carry them home. He had a long way to go, and was tired out before he had got much more than halfway. Casting his burden on the ground, he called upon Death to come and release him from his life of toil. The words were scarcely out of his mouth when, much to his dismay, Death stood before him and professed his readiness to serve him. He was almost frightened out of his wits, but he had enough presence of mind to stammer out, “Good sir, if you’d be so kind, pray help me up with my burden again.”
“WE WOULD OFTEN BE SORRY IF OUR WISHES WERE GRATIFIED.”
257.The Old Lion
A LION, worn out with years and powerless from disease, lay on the ground at the point of death. A boar rushed on him, and avenged with a stroke of his tusks a long-remembered injury. Shortly afterwards the bull with his horns gored him as if he were an enemy. When the donkey saw that the huge beast could be assailed with impunity, he let drive at his forehead with his heels.
The expiring lion said,
“I have reluctantly brooked the insults of the brave, but to be compelled to endure such treatment from you, a disgrace to Nature, is indeed to die a double death.”
âť– In old age one learns to brood well.
âť– Education is the best provision for old age.
