| FABLE XIV. | FABLE XIV. |
| THE COBBLER TURNED PHYSICIAN. | LE CORDONNIER MÉDECIN. |
| Phaedrus. | Phèdre. |
| A bungling Cobbler, broken down by want, having begun to practise physic in a strange place, and selling his antidote under a feigned name, gained some reputation for himself by his delusive speeches. | Un mauvais Cordonnier, perdu de misère, mourant de faim, alla exercer la médecine dans un pays où il n’était pas connu. Il vendait un faux antidote, et son verbiage lui eut bientôt fait un renom. |
| Upon this, the King of the city, who lay ill, being afflicted with a severe malady, asked for a cup, for the purpose of trying him; and then pouring water into it, and pretending that he was mixing poison with the fellow’s antidote, ordered him to drink it off, in consideration of a stated reward. | Le roi de la ville, qu’une grave maladie retenait au lit, voulut mettre son savoir à l’épreuve. Il demanda une coupe, y versa de l’eau, et feignit de mêler du poison à l’antidote du prétendu médecin ; puis, il lui ordonna de boire, lui promettant une récompense. |
| Through fear of death, the cobbler then confessed that not by any skill in the medical art, but through the stupidity of the public, he had gained his reputation. | La peur de la mort fit alors avouer à notre homme que ce n’était pas à ses talents en médecine, mais à la sottise du vulgaire, qu’il devait sa réputation. |
| The King, having summoned a council, thus remarked: | Le roi assemble les habitants, et leur dit : |
| ‘What think you of the extent of your madness, when you do not hesitate to trust your lives to one to whom no one would trust his feet to be fitted with shoes?’ | « Voyez la folie qui vous aveugle ; vous allez confier vos têtes à celui à qui personne n’a voulu donner ses pieds à chausser. » |
| This, I should say with good reason, is aimed at those through whose folly impudence makes a profit. | Ceci regarde, à mon avis, ceux qui, par leur sottise, enrichissent l’impudence. |
