Brigand tried to say blood was Mulberry juice when it wasn’t.
Chambry (A robber and a Sycamore Tree)
Note: The Chambry collection is published in Greek. AI was used to translate the Greek to this text:
A robber, having killed someone on the road, when he was pursued by those who happened to be nearby, left the man lying there covered in blood and fled. As he was fleeing, some travelers coming the other way asked him why his hands were stained. He said that he had just climbed down from a sycamore tree. While he was saying this, his pursuers overtook him and, having caught him, they crucified him upon a certain sycamore tree. And the tree said to him: “But I am not at all troubled to serve in your death; for the very murder you yourself committed, you tried to put the blame for it upon me.” In this way, often even those who are by nature good, when they are falsely slandered by some as wicked, do not hesitate to act against their slanderers with severity.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
A robber killed a man and tried to hide his crime by claiming he had only been climbing a tree. But when he was caught and executed on that very sycamore, the tree spoke: “You tried to blame me for your wickedness. Now you will hang upon me.” So it is that even the good will punish those who falsely accuse them.
Moral
False blame can return to punish the liar.
Perry. #152