Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXXXIX
Fab. CXXXIX.
A Flea and a Man.
A Fellow finding somewhat Prick him, Popt his Finger A upon the Place, and it prov'd to be a Flea. What art thou, says he, for an Animal, to Suck thy Livelyhood out of My Carcass? Why 'tis the Livelyhood, (says the Flea) that Nature has Allotted me, and My Stinging is not Mortal neither. Well, says the Man, but 'tis Troublesome however; and now I Have ye, I ll secure ye for ever Hurting me again, either Little or Much.
The Moral.
Live and Let Live, is the Rule of Common Justice, but if People will be Troublesome on the One hand, the Obligation is Discharg'd on the other.
REFLEXION.
It is as Natural for a Man to Kill a Flea, as it is for a Flea to Bite a Man. There's a kind of self-Preservation on Both sides, and without Any Malice on Either Hand. The Flea cannot Live without Nourishment, nor the Man without Rest. So that here’s only a Present Dispatch on the One Hand, to prevent a Lingring Death on the Other (as a Restless Life is in Truth no Better) There are in the World as many Illustrations of This Fable, as there are Instances of Petulant, Pragmatical, and Impertinent People that Break in upon Men of Government and Bus'ness. Distractions have much in them of Flea-Bitings; That is to say, they keep us Waking, and Hinder our Repose. The Flea thought it hard to suffer Death for an Importunity: But to a Man that knows how to Value his Time and his Quiet, One Importunity upon the Neck of Another, is the Killing of a Man Alive, and the very Worst of Deaths.