Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCCCLXXIII

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3941435Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists — Fable CCCCLXXIII: A Brother and a SisterRoger L'Estrange

Fab. CCCCLXXIII.

A Brother and a Sister.

There was a Brother and a Sister that happen’d to look in a Glass both together: The Brother a very Lovely Youth, and the Sister as hard favourd as a Girl could well be. Look ye (says the Boy,) and have not I a very Good Face now? This the Lass took for a Reproach, as if hers were not so too. What does this Envious Tit, bur away to her Father, with a Tale of her Brother, how Effeminately he Behav'd himself, and that a Petticoat would become him better then a Sword. The Good Man Kiss'd them both, and Reconciled the Controversy. My Dear Children, says he, I lay my Command upon ye Both to look often in a Glass; You Son, to keep a Guard upon your Self, not to Dishonour the Advantages that Nature has given ye, with Ill Manners: And you Daughter, (says he) to Mind you of Supplying the Defects of an External and a Transitory Beauty, with the more substantial Ornaments of Piety and Virtue.

The Moral.

There is not any Accident or Adventure in Nature, that does not yield Matter and Occasion for Good Councel: And the Excellency of that necessary Office lies in the Address of Managing it Pertinently, and without Reproach.

REFLEXION.

The Vanity of the Youth here in the Fable, is doubly to Blame; First, he values himself upon a Trivial and an Uncertain Advantage. Secondly, ‘Tis below the Dignity of the Sex, for a Man to Glory in, and to Usurp upon the proper Ornaments and Privileges of a Woman. The Sisters Envy may be better Reprov'd then Reform’d; for to say that a Woman is not Handsom, is a Sin never to be Forgiven. The Father does excellently well Discharge the Part of a Wise Man, and of a Tender Parent both in One. And the Moral of his Part Resolves finally into this, That Virtue attones for Bodily Defects, and that Beauty is nothing worth, without a Mind Answerable to the Person.