Aesop's Fables
A
SHIPWRECKED MAN, having been cast upon a certain
shore, slept after his
buffetings with the deep. After a while he awoke, and looking upon the
Sea, loaded it with
reproaches. He argued that it
enticed men with the
calmness of its looks, but when it had
induced them to plow its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them. The Sea, assuming the form of a
woman, replied to him: "Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own
nature as calm and firm even as this
earth; but the winds suddenly
falling on me create these waves, and lash me into
fury."