Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Foreign language (English) > Aesop’s Fables

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The Man Bitten by The Ant, and Hermes

(Aesop’s Fables)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

おりがみをつくろう ( おりがみくらぶ より) あり

Japanese ・ English ・Japanese & English

　One day a ship packed with plenty of passengers sank into the sea.

　There was a man who saw the ship sink, and he said,

“God doesn't know what he's doing!

　There is only one man that should receive divine punishment in the ship.

　It's such a terrible thing as sinking the ship and killing so many people in order to punish that man.”

　In the meantime, there were plenty of ants at the place where the man, who expressed his opinion about God's sinking the ship, stood.

　Then one of the ants bit him once.

“Ouch! You're just an ant. How could you bite a human being? Shame on you!”

　Even though the ant bit him only once,

　he trod all the ants that he could see around him.

　Then God Hermes appeared, and said to him,

“Well,

　see what you've done. After even reflecting on what you've done, can you still say that God can't punish human beings like you did to the ants?”



　This is a story for those who make a fuss about what others are doing, but do the same things as others.

The end

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