A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the seashore. Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes in the hope that the fish, attracted by his melody, would of their own accord dance into his net, which he had placed below. At last, having long waited in vain, he laid aside his flute, and casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of fish. When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said: "O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I have ceased you do so merrily."
有一个渔夫非常善于吹笛子。一天，他拿着心爱的笛子和鱼网来到海边，站在一块突起的岩石上，非常认真地吹奏起来，心想，听到这么美妙的音乐，鱼儿一定会自己跳出海面的。可是，不管他多么聚精会神地吹，却毫无结果。他只好放下笛子，将鱼网撒向海里，捕到了许许多多的鱼。他把鱼网拖上岸，看着拼命挣扎的鱼儿说道：“嘿，你们这些不知好歹的家伙，我吹笛子给你们听，你们不跳舞；现在我不吹了，你们倒活蹦乱跳的。”