올드코난의 이솝우화 스물 두 번째 이야기 제22화 독수리와 여우 (Perry 1. The Eagle and the Fox)

올드코난 (Old Conan)이 재해석하는 현대판 이솝우화 (Aesop's Fables, Aesopica) => 원 저작자: Aesop; 참고 번역본 저자: 조지 파일러 타운센드(George Fyler Townsend, 1814-1900) 외 / 현재 알려진 이솝우화들을 현대적으로 해석해  소개해 드리겠습니다.

올드코난의 이솝우화 스물 두 번째 이야기 제22화 독수리와 여우 (The Eagle and the Fox)

 

독수리와 여우가 좋은 이웃으로 오래도록 같이 살아 왔다.

독수리는 높은 나무 가지 위에 둥지를 틀었고, 여우는 나무 밑 구멍에 보금자리를 마련해 살고 있었다.

 

그러던 어느날 여우가 멀리 나간 틈에, 여우의 보금자리를 급습해 새끼를 잡아 먹어 버렸다. 집으로 돌아온 여우가 이 사실을 알고 우정을 배신한 독수리에 대한 분노와 어린 자식의 죽음에 대한 슬픔과 약자의 설움을 느꼈다.

여우는 당장은 힘에 부치지만, 반드시 복수하기로 마음먹고 때를 기다렸다.

 

어느날, 마을에서 신에게 바치는 제사를 지내고 있었다. 불을 피우고 염소를 제물을 바치던 순간 독수리가 고기 한 점을 뜯고 둥지로 날아 갔다. 근데 고기에 남아 있던 불꽃 때문에 둥지는 순식간에 불에 휩싸여 버렸고, 아직 날 수 없는 어린 새끼들은 불에 타 나무 아래로 떨어졌다.

그리고 나무 아래에 있던 여우는 독수리가 보는 앞에서 새끼들을 먹어 치워 버렸다.

 

[올드코난 한마디]

죄를 지은 자는 반드시 처벌을 받는 다는 교훈이 담긴 글.

오랫동안 이웃으로, 친구로 지낸 사람들 혹은 착해 보이는 사람들의 배신이나 잔혹한 면을 발견하게 되었을 때 느끼는 분노는 매우 크다.

도저히 용서를 할 수 없을만큼 감정의 골은 깊다.

더구나 죄를 뉘우치지 않는다면, 증오심은 겉잡을 수 없이 커진다.

 

최근들어 예수님의 가르침을 전달한다는 기독교 목사들이 탐욕에 물들면서 교인들의 재산을 빼앗거나, 여성 신도에 대한 성범죄, 권력자와 결탁해 많은 문제를 일으키고 있다.

목사이기에 믿었고, 그리고 교회에서 막강한 권한을 가진 목사이기에 순진한 신도들은 당하고 참는 경우가 많다.

‘독수리와 여우’ 편에서 독수리가 여우의 새끼를 잡아 먹고도 뻔뻔했던 것은 여우는 자신에게 어떤 보복도 할 수 없는 약자였기 때문이다.

무조건 참고 산다는 것은 옳지 않다.

계속해서 참기만 한다면, 독수리는 여우의 새끼들을 모두 다 잡아 먹어 버릴 것이다.

 

[영어 원문]

이 이야기는 크게 3가지 원문 번역이 있다.

1. Caxton's translation (1484, 킥스턴의 번역)

제목: Of the Egle and of the foxe

How the puyssaunt & myghty must doubte the feble Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / Ther was an Egle whiche came ther as yong foxes were / and took awey one of them / and gaf hit to his yonge egles to fede them with The foxe wente after hym & praid hym to restore and gyue hym ageyne his yong foxe / And the Egle sayd that he wold not / For he was ouer hym lord and maister / And thenne the foxe fulle of shrewdnes and of malyce beganne to put to gyder grete habondaunce of strawe round aboute the tree / where vpon the egle and his yonge were in theyr nest / and kyndeled it with fyre / And whan the smoke and the flambe began to ryse vpward / the Egle ferdfulle and doubtyng the dethe of her lytylle egles restored ageyne the yonge foxe to his moder

 

This fable sheweth vs / how the myghty men oughte not to lette in ony thynge the smale folke / For the lytyll ryght ofte may lette and trouble the grete

 

2. L'Estrange's translation (1692)

제목:AN EAGLE AND A FOX

There was a Bargain struck up betwixt an Eagle and a Fox to be wonderful good Neighbours and Friends. The one took up in a Thicket of Brushwood, and the other timber’d upon a Tree hard by. The Eagle one day when the Fox was abroad a foraging, fell into his Quarters, and carried away a whole Litter of Cubs at a Swoop. The Fox came time enough back to see the Eagle upon the Wing with her Prey in the Foot, and to send many a heavy Curse after her; but there was no overtaking her. It happen’d in a very short time after this, upon the sacrificing of a Goat, that the same Eagle made a swoop at a Piece of Flesh upon the Altar, and she took it away to her Young: But some live Coals it seems that stuck to’t, set the Nest on Fire. The Birds were not as yet fledged enough to shift for themselves, but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of the Flame, down they tumbled, half-roasted, into the very Mouth of the Fox, that stood gaping under the Tree to see the End on’t: So that the Fox had the Satisfaction at last of devouring the Children of her Enemy in the very sight of the Dam.

 

THE MORAL. God reserves to himself the Punishment of faithless and oppressing Governors, and the vindication of his own Worship and Altars..

 

3.Townsend's translation (1887)

제목: The Eagle and the Fox.An Eagle and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the underwood and there produced her young. Not long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The Fox on her return, discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.

 

4.최근 번역본

An eagle and a fox had long lived together as good neighbors; the eagle at the summit of a high tree, the fox in a hole at the foot of it. One day, however, while the fox was abroad, the eagle made a swoop at the fox's cub and carried it off to her nest, thinking that her lofty dwelling would secure her from the fox's revenge.

 

The fox, on her return home, upbraided the eagle for this breach of friendship, and begged earnestly to have her young one again. Finding that her entreaties were of no avail, she snatched a torch from an altar-fire that had been lighted hard. Involving the whole tree in flame and smoke, she soon made the eagle restore, through fear for herself and her own young ones, the cub that she had just now denied to her most earnest prayers.

 

The tyrant, though he may despise the tears of the oppressed, is never safe from their vengeance. 

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