Help Me Interpret this Aesop's Fable

from JoeUser Forums
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, but on every visit took away something from her home, 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."
philosophy
4,266 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Apart from the Physician being a total jerk...I can make a vague interpretation of the moral(s) this fable. My husband came up with an even better interpretation than I could though. He thinks that since the words "Physician" and "Judge" are capitalized, they refer to higher people. John said since the Physician made a deal with the lady, then cheated her, so that makes him the devil. And he says that the Judge is God, and he'll be fair to the Old Woman since she was blind when she made a deal with the devil.

Did you think of anything like this after reading the fable? If not, what did you come up with?
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
aesop is generally believed to have been born in 621 bce. once he became a freed man (born a slave), he likely travelled throughout the greek empire both on his own and later as an emissary of king croeseus. your concept of god and his are, almost certainly, two entirely different things.

(according to one of several relatively ancient accounts of aesop's life story, he was born mute and only gained the power of speech by acts of kindness to a priestess of isis.)

those fables attributed to aesop were all originally passed along unwritten--so any use of upper case characters results from someone else's editing.

as to the moral, 3 occur to me:

1. professions and offices are only honorable when practiced or occupied by honorable persons.

2. be careful with a fool cuz someday she might get smart.

3. nobody volunteers for anything without hope of gain.

the doctor should have rebutted her argument with my favorite reply when caught redhanded...'who you gonna believe? me or them lyin eyes of yours?'
ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
The moral to this fable is simply "In the absence of a second opinion Doctors will always try to rob you blind."
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
In the absence of a second opinion Doctors will always try to rob you blind."


dead solid perfect as well as hilarious.

gotcha some points too!
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Toblerone & kingbee, thank you for your insightful comments. You made my little brain grow one more inch!
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Help me interpret this Aesop's Fable

The Old Woman and the Physician . . .


He who plays a trick must be prepared to take a joke