伊索寓言:寡婦和她的女仆 The Widow and Her Little Maidens
A widow who was fond of cleaning had two little maidens to wait on her. She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow. The maidens, aggravated by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the cock who roused their mistress so early. When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night.
一個寡婦,雇傭了幾名女仆,她總是在每天清晨公雞啼叫的時候,就催促她們?nèi)趧?,哪怕是夜半雞叫也照催不誤,這樣一來,女仆們每天都疲憊不堪。于是,她們認為是倒霉的公雞不到天亮就把女主人叫醒,是害得她們精疲力竭的罪魁禍首,決定把公雞的脖子給擰斷。結(jié)果,弄死了公雞,情形卻變得更糟。因為,女主人在沒有公雞報時的情況下,總是更早地來把女仆們叫醒,她們自發(fā)的計謀苦了自己。