Section 61
The Traveller and Fortune explained simply
Aesop's Fables by Aesop
Original excerpt
Excerpt preview
A Traveller, exhausted with fatigue after a long journey, sank down at the very brink of a deep well and presently fell asleep. He was within an ace of falling in, when Dame Fortune appeared to him and touched him on the shoulder, cautioning him to move further away. "Wake up, good sir, I pray you," she said;...
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Public-domain original
A Traveller, exhausted with fatigue after a long journey, sank down at
the very brink of a deep well and presently fell asleep. He was within
an ace of falling in, when Dame Fortune appeared to him and touched
him on the shoulder, cautioning him to move further away. "Wake up,
good sir, I pray you," she said; "had you fallen into the well, the
blame would have been thrown not on your own folly but on me, Fortune."
Public-domain original text shown for study context.
What happens here
A tired traveler sleeps by a well and Fortune warns him before he falls in.
Why this scene matters
This fable teaches that people often blame luck for dangers caused by their own carelessness.
Characters in this scene
- Traveller: A central figure in the fable’s conflict and lesson.
- Fortune: A central figure in the fable’s conflict and lesson.
Simple story version
A traveler almost falls into a well while sleeping. Fortune wakes him and warns that she would be blamed for his mistake.