The Fisherman Piping

A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the seashore. Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes in the hope that the fish, attracted by his melody, would of their own accord dance into his net, which he had placed below. At last, having long waited in vain, he laid aside his flute, and casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of fish. When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said: “O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I have ceased you do so merrily.”

音楽の得意な漁師が、笛と網を持って海岸へ行った。突き出た岩の上に立ち、漁師は何曲か笛を吹いた。魚たちがその調べにひかれて、下に仕かけておいた網の中へ、自分から踊りこんでくれるだろうと期待したのだ。長いあいだむなしく待ったあげく、とうとう漁師は笛をわきに置き、海に網を投げた。すると、魚がすばらしくたくさんとれた。岩の上の網の中で魚たちが跳ねまわっているのを見て、漁師は言った。「なんとひねくれたやつらだ。わたしが笛を吹いていたときは踊ろうとしなかったくせに、やめたとたんに楽しそうに踊るとは」