THE FISHERMEN AND THE STONE

Some fishermen were hauling in their net. It was quite heavy, so the fishermen made merry and danced for joy, thinking that they had landed a very big catch. Yet when they finally dragged it in, they found that the net contained only a few fish, together with a very large stone. The fishermen now grew extremely despondent, not so much because of the lack of fish but because they had been expecting just the opposite. Then one of the fishermen, an experienced old man, remarked, 'Let's not take it too hard, my friends! Given that grief seems to be the sister of joy, then we must expect to put up with some suffering precisely because we were so elated at first.'
The fable shows that we have to endure reversals of fortune, since we know that life is a matter of luck.