Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CXII.

Fishermen Disappointed.

SOme Fishermen that had been Out a Whole Day with a Dragner, and Caught Nothing, had a Draught toward the Evening, that came home very Heavy, which put ’em in hope of a Sturgeon at least, but upon bringing the Net ashore, it prov'd to be Only One Great Stone, and a few Little Fishes. Upon This Disappointment they were Down in the Mouth again; but says One of the Company that was a Little Graver then the Rest, You are to Consider, my Masters, that Joy and Sorrow are Two Sisters that follow One Another by Turns.

The Moral.

All Our Purchases in This World are but the Catching of a Tartar, as we Say, but it is some Comfort yet to Consider, that when Things are at the Worst they'l Mend.

REFLEXION.

Hopes and Disappointments are the Entertainment of Humane Life: The One serves to keep us from Presumption, the Other from Despair. The Fisherman's Case in the Fable is many a man's Case in the World; as with a Wife for the Purpose, with an Office, with an Estatc, with a Court-Commission: He's fayn to Tug Hard for’t before he can Catch it, and Measures the Blessing all the while by the Difficulty of Obtaining it. And what's the Purchase at last when he comes to Cast up his Account but Great Stones and Little Fishes? His only Comfort is, That This World will not Last always; and that Good Luck, and Bad Luck take their Turns.