The Blind Man and the Paralytic

Fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Period 18th century

Let us help one another,
the burden of misfortunes will be lighter;
the good that one does for one’s brother
is a relief for the evil that one suffers.
Confucius said it; let us all follow his doctrine:
to persuade the peoples of China of it,
he told them the following tale.
In a city of Asia
there existed two unhappy men,
one crippled, the other blind, and poor both of them.
They asked heaven to end their life:
but their cries were in vain,
they could not die. Our paralytic,
lying on a pallet in the public square,
suffered without being pitied; he suffered all the more for it.
The blind man, whom everything could harm,
was without guide, without support,
without even having a poor dog
to love him and to lead him.
One certain day it happened
that the blind man, groping, at the turn of a street,
found himself near the sick man;
he heard his cries, his soul was moved by them.
There is nothing like the unfortunate
to complain to one another.
I have my ills, he said to him, and you have yours:
let us unite them, my brother; they will be less dreadful.
Alas! said the crippled man, you do not know, my brother,
that I cannot take a single step;
you yourself cannot see:
what would it serve us to unite our misery?
What would it serve? replies the blind man, listen: between the two of us
we possess the good necessary to each;
I have legs, and you eyes.
I, I will carry you; you, you will be my guide:
your eyes will direct my unsteady steps,
my legs in their turn will go where you wish:
thus, without our friendship ever deciding
which of us two fills the more useful role,
I will walk for you, you will see for me.

Florian

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/fable-the-blind-man-and-the-paralytic-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/