The Old Woman And The Physician
Aesop Fable: The Old Woman And The Physician
An old woman having lost the use of her eyes, called in a
Physician to heal them, and made this bargain with him in the
presence of witnesses: that if he should cure her blindness, he
should receive from her a sum of money; but if her infirmity
remained, she should give him nothing.
This agreement being
made, the Physician, time after time, applied his salve to her
eyes, and on every visit took something away, stealing all her
property little by little.
And when he had got all she had, he
healed her and demanded the promised payment. The Old
Woman, when she recovered her sight and saw none of her
goods in her house, would give him nothing.
The Physician
insisted on his claim, and. as she still refused, summoned her
before the Judge.
The Old Woman, standing up in the Court, argued:
"This man
here speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to
give him a sum of money if I should recover my sight: but if I
continued blind, I was to give him nothing. Now he declares
that I am healed. I on the contrary affirm that I am still blind;
for when I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house various
chattels and valuable goods: but now, though he swears I am
cured of my blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it."
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