The Original Fables of La Fontaine | Page 8

all,
worth peace, which one must leave behind for it? Peace--a treasure that
once was the possession of gods alone--is seldom granted to the
votaries of Dame Fortune. Do not seek her; and then she will seek you.
That is the way with women!
There once were two friends, who lived comfortably and prospered
moderately in a village; but one of them was always wishing to do
better. One day he said to the other, "Suppose we left this place and
tried our luck elsewhere? You know that a prophet is never received in
his own country!"
"You try, by all means," returned his friend, "but as for me, I am
contented where I am. I desire neither better climate nor better
possibilities. You please yourself. Follow your unquiet spirit. You'll
soon return, and I shall sleep soundly enough awaiting you."
So the man of ambition, or the money-grubber, whichever you like to
call him, took to the road, and arrived next day at a place where, if
anywhere, Dame Fortune should be found, namely, the court. He stayed
at court for some long time, never missing an opportunity to put
himself in the way of favours. He was in evidence when the king went
to bed, when he arose, and on all other propitious occasions.
"What's amiss?" he said at last. "Fortune, I am convinced, dwells here;
for I have seen her the guest now of this one and now of that one. How
is it that I cannot entertain the capricious creature? I must try her
elsewhere. I have already been told that the people of this place are
exceedingly ambitious. Evidently there is no room for me here. So,
adieu! gentleman of the court, and follow to the bitter end this
will-o'-the-wisp! They tell me that Dame Fortune has temples in Surat.
Very well! We will go there."
He embarked at once. What hearts of bronze have humankind! The
man who first attempted this awful route and defied its terrors must
have had a heart of adamant. Often did our traveller turn his eyes
towards his little home as first pirates, then contrary winds, then calms,
then rocks--all agents of death--in turn assailed him. Strange it is that
men should take such pains to meet death, since it will come only too
quickly to them in their homes!

Our adventurer arrived in India. There they told him that Japan was the
place where Fortune dispensed her favours. He hurried there. The sea
wearied of carrying him about. In the end all the profit his long voyages
brought him was the lesson which he learnt from savages, and that was:
"Stop in your own country and let Nature instruct you." Japan, India, or
anywhere else; no one place was better than another as a hunting
ground for Fortune; so the conclusion was forced upon him that he had
been wiser had he stayed in his own village. At last he renounced all
these ungrateful wanderings and returned to his own country; and as he
caught sight of his homestead from afar he wept for joy, and cried:
"Happy is the man who, staying in his home, finds constant occupation
in adjusting his desires to his surroundings. To him the court, the sea,
and the land of Fortune are but hearsay. Thou, fickle Dame, flaunting
before our eyes dignities and wealth, dost cause us to follow after these
allurements to the ends of the earth, only to find them empty shams.
Henceforth I wander no more, for here at home a hundred times more
success shall I find."
Having registered this vow against Fortune the wanderer came to the
door of his friend, and lo! there sat Fortune, waiting on the threshold,
whilst his friend slumbered within.

XIII
AN ANIMAL IN THE MOON
(BOOK VII.--No. 18)
Whilst one philosopher tells us that men are constantly the dupes of
their own senses, another will swear that the senses never deceive. Both
are right. Philosophy truly affirms that the senses will deceive so long
as men are content to take upon trust the evidence the senses bring. But
if this evidence is weighed, measured, and tested by every available
resource of science the senses can deceive no one.
* * * * *
In England, not long ago, when a large telescope was levelled to
observe the moon, the observer was astounded to see what he took to
be some new animal in this lovely planet. Everybody was excited about
the marvellous appearance. Something had occurred up above there
which, without doubt, must betoken great changes of some sort. Who
could tell but that all the dreadful wars that were then convulsing

Europe had not been caused by it? The king, who patronised the
sciences, hastened to the observatory to see the