The Man and the Wooden Idol

Fable by Jean De La Fontaine Collection The FablesThemes ReligionPeriod 17th century

A certain pagan kept in his home a wooden god,
One of those gods who are deaf, though they have ears.
The pagan, meanwhile, expected wonders from it.
It cost him as much as three.
There were nothing but vows and offerings,
Sacrifices of oxen crowned with garlands.
Never had an idol, whatever it might be,
Had so rich a kitchen,
Yet for all this worship no succession,
Treasure, gambling gain, or any favor fell to its host.
What’s more, if for a penny’s worth of storm somewhere
Gathered in one way or another,
The man had his share of it, and his purse suffered for it.
The god’s ration was none the smaller for that.
At last, angered at getting nothing from it,
He takes a crowbar, smashes the idol,
Finds it filled with gold: When I did you good,
Did you bring me, he said, even a penny?
Go on, get out of my house: seek other altars.
You resemble those natural
Wretches, coarse and stupid:
One can get nothing from them except with a stick.
The more I filled you, the emptier my hands were:
I did well to change your tune.

Jean de La Fontaine

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

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