A Kingfisher finds the sea more violent than the land.
Chambry (The Kingfisher)
Note: The Chambry collection is published in Greek. AI was used to translate the Greek to this text:
The kingfisher is a bird that is fond of solitude and spends its life always on the sea. It is said that when she is guarding herself against the snares of men, she lays her eggs in rocky places by the sea. And so, once when she was about to give birth, she came to a certain promontory and, seeing a rock by the sea, there she made her nest. But one day when she went out to search for food, it happened that the sea, stirred up by a violent wind, rose up to the nest, and flooding it, destroyed her chicks. And when the kingfisher returned and realized what had happened, she said: “Ah, wretched me, who, thinking the land treacherous, fled to this place which has proved much more untrustworthy.”
Thus also among men, some, while guarding themselves against their enemies, unwittingly fall among friends much more troublesome than enemies.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
A kingfisher, trying to avoid human dangers, nested on a rock by the sea. But while she was away searching for food, a storm flooded her nest and killed her chicks. When she returned, she lamented that, fearing the land, she had trusted the sea, which betrayed her even worse.
Moral
People who try to avoid enemies often fall into even worse situations with those they thought were safe—sometimes so-called friends prove more harmful than foes.
Perry. #25