A Farmer blamed the Sea for being rough, but it was really the Wind making it rough.
Babrius Translation (The Husbandman and The Sea)
A countryman beheld a crowded ship
Its prow beneath the arching surges dip;
“Would thou hadst ne’er been ploughed,” he cried, “thou main!
“Harsh element, of which all men complain.”
The sea o’erheard, assumed a woman’s tone,
And said, “I pray you, leave my name alone.
“For ’tis not I that cause you all these woes:
“But every blast that round about me blows,
“See me and sail me, yonder winds removed,
“And gentler than your earth you’ll own me proved.”
Bad natures oft turn many goods to worse,
Thus e’en a blessing comes to seem a curse.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
A Farmer and the Sea
A farmer stood on the shore and watched a ship tossed by stormy waves. Shaking his fist, he shouted, “Cruel ocean! I wish you had never been made!” The sea answered in a calm woman’s voice: “Blame the wind, not me. When the wind is quiet, I am gentler than your own fields.”
Moral
Good things can look bad when rough hands twist them; blame the cause, not the gift.
Perry. #78