The Priest and the Pears

The Priest and the Pears. There was a certain greedy priest who was traveling abroad, having been invited to a wedding. Along the way he found a heap of pears but he did not touch a single one of them even though he was feeling very hungry. As a matter of fact, he mocked those pears, sprinkling them with piss, indignant that such food would be offered to him on the way when he was traveling to such a splendid feast. But when along the way he ran into a raging river swollen with rains, so that he could not even cross without risking his life, he decided to turn back home. On the return journey, having had nothing to eat, he was tormented by such a hunter that he might have died, if it hadn't eaten those very pears which he had sprinkled with piss: they were the only thing he could find to eat. The Fable wanrs us not to make scorn anything, since there is nothing so vile or wretched that it doesn't turn out to be useful sooner or later.

Sacerdos et Pira. Sacerdos quidam gulosus, extra patriam ad nuptias profisciscens ad quas fuerat invitatus, reperit in itinere pirorum acervum, quorum ne unum quidem attigit quamvis magna affectus fame; quin potius ea, ludibrio habens, lotio conspersit, indignabatur enim huiusmodi cibos sibi in itinere offerri qui ad lautas accedebat epulas. Sed, cum in itinere torrentem quendam ita imbribus auctum offendisset ut sine vitae periculo eum transire non posset, domum redire constituit. Revertens autem ieiunus, tanta est oppressus fame ut, nisi pira illa quae urina consperserat comesset cum aliud non inveniret, extingueretur. Morale. Haec fabula monet nihil esse contemnendum, cum nihil sit tam vile et abiectum, quod aliquando usui esse non possit.

Notes. This is Abstemius 46. As usual with Abstemius, it is not found in Perry's inventory. This is one of my very favorite fables in Abstemius. It has a great sense of karma about it! The priest does something very foolish and he is the one who pays the price for his own foolishness.