"The Old Woman and the Physician" (attributed to
Aesop)
An old woman, having lost the
use of her eyes, called in a Physician to heal them, and made this bargain with
him in the presence of witnesses: that if he should cure her blindness, he
should receive from her a sum of money; but if her infirmity remained, she
should give him nothing.
This agreement being made, the Physician, time after time,
applied his salve to her eyes, and on every visit took something away,
stealing all her property little by little. And when he had got all she had, he healed her and demanded the promised payment.
The Old Woman, when she recovered her sight and saw none of
her goods in her house, would give him nothing. The Physician insisted
on his claim, and as she still refused, summoned her before the Judge.
The Old Woman, standing up in the Court, argued: "This
man here speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to give him a sum
of money if I should recover my sight, but if I continued blind, I was to give
him nothing. Now he declares that I am healed. I on the contrary affirm that I
am still blind; for when I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house various
chattels and valuable goods, but now, though he swears I am cured of my
blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it."
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