Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
484. THE POOR MAN AND DEATH
Perry 60 (Syntipas
2)
A poor man was carrying a load of wood on his shoulders. After a while
he was feeling faint, so he sat down by the side of the road. Putting
aside his burden, he bitterly called out to Death, summoning Death with
the words 'O Death!' Death immediately showed up and said to the man, 'Why
have you summoned me?' The man said, 'Oh, just to have you help me pick
this burden up off the ground!'
The fable shows that everyone clings to life, even if they suffer from
affliction and oppression.
Note: In other versions of this fable (Chambry
78), the protagonist is an 'old man,' rather than a 'poor man.'
Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
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