Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXXXI

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CXXXI

A Boy and a Snake.

A Boy was Groping for Eels, and layd his hand upon a Snake, but the Snake, finding it was Pure Simplicity, and not Malice, Admonish’d him of his Mistake; Keep your self Well while you are Well, says the Snake; for if you Meddle with Me, You'll Repent your Bargain.

The Moral.

'Tis the Intention, Morally Speaking, that makes the Action Good or Bad; and even Brutes themselves will put a Difference betwixt Harms of Ill Will and Mischance.

REFLEXION.

‘Tis Wisdom, as well as Justice, to Distinguith betwixt Actions of Misadventure,and of Design. Every Thing has at least Two Handles to’t, and Both Parts should be well Examin'd, before a Man can make either a Warrantable Judgment, or a Prudent Choice. The Boy's Mistake here is no more then what we have Every day before our Eyes in common Pratice: And That which the Snake says to the Boy, Every Man’s Reason says to Himélf. What is his taking a Snake for an Ele, but our taking Vice for Virtue; He did it Unwarily: And so do We Many times too. He took the One for the Other, because they were so much Alike, that at first View he could not Distinguish them. And are not Virtue and Vice as Like, in several Instances, as One Egg is to Another? How shall a Man know, at first Blush, Hypocrisie from Piety; True Charity from Ostentation; or the Devil Himself with a Glory about him, from an Angel of Light? Time and Examination may do Much, but the Boy was Groping, and in the Dark, and so might Well be Mistaken. The Snake Told him of his Error, and the Danger of it, but Pass’d it over, because there was no Ill Will in't. This is the very Case of Our Reason to us, in all our Misdoings: It Checks us for what's Past, and Advises us for the Future, to have a care of False Appearances: Justas the Snake did to the Child here.