이솝우화 제 59화 고양이와 생쥐 (The Cat and the Mice) (*자루 훙내를 낸 고양이)

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 쉰 아홉번째 이야기 제 59화 고양이와 생쥐 (Perry 79. Cat and Mice) (*자루 훙내를 낸 고양이)

쥐 사냥을 잘하는 고양이가 있었다.

이 고양이게 쥐들이 한 마리씩 죽어나가기 시작하고, 살아남은 쥐들은 이 고양이가 두려워 쥐구멍 속에서 숨어서 밖으로 잘 나오지 않게 되었다.

쥐를 찾기 어려워진 고양이는 문득 쥐가 자루 속을 훔쳐보던 것을 기억해 냈다. 그러자 고양이는 기둥에 있는 못에 매달려 마치 자루인 것처럼 조용히 매달려 있었다.

이 광경을 본 늙은 쥐가 고양이는 물론 젊은 쥐들 모두 들으라고 이렇게 크게 말했다.

“영리한 아가씨(고양이) 자루인 것처럼 가만히 있다가, 우리가 다가가면 잡아 먹으시려고요!”

현명한 사람은 위험한 사람의 계락에 걸려들지 않는다.

[올드코난 한마디]

나쁜 사람의 속임수에 걸려들지 마라, 한번쯤은 의심을 해 보라는 교훈이 담긴 이야기로, 사악한 자들은 무섭게 다가오기 보다는 착한 척 혹은 점잖게 다가온다. 그리고 의심을 버린 순간 그들은 본색을 드러낼 것이다.

개인적으로 사기를 몇 번 당해봐서 잘 안다.

사기꾼은 절대, 나쁜 놈처럼, 무서운 사람처럼 행동하지 않는다.

당신에게 해를 끼치는 자들은 알고 보면, 미소를 짓고 손을 내미는 사람일 수도 있다는 것을 명심해라.

[영어 원문]

Perry 79. Cat and Mice

A cat came to a house with mice and started to feast. The mice hid and the cat, thinking to fool them, hung itself from a peg as a bag. Didn’t work. Do not put yourself at the mercy of a known enemy.

1.Townsend version

A certain house was overrun with Mice. A Cat, discovering this, made her way into it and began to catch and eat them one by one. Fearing for their lives, the Mice kept themselves close in their holes. The Cat was no longer able to get at them and perceived that she must tempt them forth by some device. For this purpose she jumped upon a peg, and suspending herself from it, pretended to be dead. One of the Mice, peeping stealthily out, saw her and said, “Ah, my good madam, even though you should turn into a meal-bag, we will not come near you.”

2. V.S. Vernon Jones Version

There was once a house that was overrun with Mice. A Cat heard of this, and said to herself, “That’s the place for me,” and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice one by one and ate them. At last the Mice could stand it no longer, and they determined to take to their holes and stay there. “That’s awkward,” said the Cat to herself: “the only thing to do is to coax them out by a trick.” So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg, and pretended to be dead. By and by a Mouse peeped out and saw the Cat hanging there. “Aha!” it cried, “you’re very clever, madam, no doubt: but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”

Moral: If you are wise you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

3. JRB Collection

A certain house was much infested by mice; the owner brought home a Cat, a famous mouser, who soon made such havoc among the little folk, that those who remained resolved they would never leave the upper shelves. The Cat grew hungry and thin in consequence, and, driven to her wit’s end, hung by her hind legs to a peg in the wall, and pretended to be dead. An old mouse came to the edge of the shelf, and, seeing through the deception, cried out, “Ah, ah, Mrs. Pussy! We should not come near you, even if your skin were stuffed with straw.

4. L’Estrange version

There was a house mightily troubled with mice, and a notable cat there was, that time after time had pick’d up so many of ’em, that they agreed among themselves to keep above in the cieling; for they found that upon the plain floor there was no living for ’em. This spoil’d pusses sport, unless she could find a way to trepan them down again. So she leapt up to a pin that was driven into the wall, and there hung like a polcat in a warren, to amuse them. The mice took notice of it, and one wiser then the rest stretched out his neck to learn the truth of the matter, and so soon as ever he found how ’twas, Ah, says he, you may hang there ’till your heart akes; for if you were but a dish-clout, as you are a counterfeiting devil of a cat, here’s not a creature will come near ye.

Moral: Let no man lay himself at the mercy of a known enemy, under any shew, or pretence whatsoever; for he forfeits his discretion, even though he should happen to save his carcass, and his fortune.

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