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 제102화 중년남자와 두 아내 (Perry 31. The Middle-aged Man and his Two Mistresses (The Man and His Two Wives))
중년의 남자가 있었다. 어느덧 그의 머리는 하얗게 변해가고 있었다. 그리고 그 남자는 두 명의 부인이 있었다. 한 명은 젊었고 다른 부인은 자신보다 연상이었다. 남자는 두 여자를 모두 사랑했고, 두 부인 역시 그를 사랑했다. 그런데 중년 남자가 나이든 부인를 찾아가면 그녀는 자신보다 어려보이는게 싫어 검은 머리카락을 뽑았고, 반면 젊은 아내는 늙어 보이는게 싫어서 그가 집에 올 때마다 흰 머리를 뽑아 버리고는 했다. 그러다가 결국 그 남자는 대머리가 되고 말았다.
모든 이들을 만족시킬수는 없는 법이다.
[올드코난 한마디]
이 이야기는 서로 다른 사람을 중개해준다는 것이 매우 어렵다는 뜻도 담겨 있고, 모든 사람들에게 잘 보이지마라는 충고가 담겨 있다. 모든 사람들을 만족시키려들면 결국에는 모든 이들을 만족시킬 수 없는 것이다. 과감하게 하나는 포기를 해야 할 때가 분명히 있다. 이 에피소드는 어떤 일을 할 때 둘 중 하나를 선택해야 할 상황에서는 분명하게 결정을 하라고 말한다.
[영어 문장]
The Middle-aged Man and his Two Mistresses
A man had two wives; one older and one younger. Being vain, the younger pulled white hairs from the man’s head and the older pulled dark. He went bald.
Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.
1. Eliot/Jacobs Version
In the old days, a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him and desired to see him like herself. The Man’s hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too old. So, every night she picked out the white hairs. But, the elder Wife did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So, every morning she picked out as many of the black hairs as she could. The Man soon found himself entirely
2. Caldecott
A Man whose hair was turning gray had two Wives, one young and the other old. The elderly woman felt ashamed at being married to a man younger than herself, and made it a practice whenever he was with her to pick out all his black hairs; while the younger, anxious to conceal the fact that she had an elderly husband, used, similarly, to pull out the gray ones. So, between them, it ended in the Man being completely plucked, and becoming bald.
3. Townsend version
A middle-aged Man, whose hair had begun to turn gray, courted two women at the same time. One of them was young, and the other well advanced in years. The elder woman, ashamed to be courted by a man younger than herself, made a point, whenever her admirer visited her, to pull out some portion of his black hairs. The younger, on the contrary, not wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in removing every gray hair she could find. Thus it came to pass that between them both he very soon found that he had not a hair left on his head.
Moral: Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.
4. L’Estrange version
It was now cuckow-time, and a certain middle ag’d man, that was half-gray, half-brown, took a fancy to marry two wives, of an age one under another, and happy was the woman that could please him best. They took mighty care of him to all manner of purposes, and still as they were combing the good man’s head, they’d be picking out here and there a hair to make it all of a colour. The matronly wife, she pluck’d out all the brown hairs, and the younger the white: so that they left the man in the conclusion no better then a bald buzzard betwixt them.
Moral: ‘Tis a much harder thing to please two wives then two masters; and he’s a bold man that offers at it.
5.JBR Collection
In a country where men could have more than one wife, a certain man, whose head was fast becoming white, had two, one a little older than himself, and one much younger. The young wife, being of a gay and lively turn, did not want people to think that she had an old man for a husband, and so used to pull out as many of his white hairs as she could. The old wife, on the other hand, did not wish to seem older than her husband, and so used to pull out the black hairs. This went on, until between them both, they made the poor man quite bald.
6. Concubinae Duae
Senex, cuius caput respersum iam erat canis, habebat concubinas duas, moribus et aetate dissimiles, nam altera iuvencula et lascivior, altera aetate provecta et severior erat. Ut igitur ad harum alteram forte accesserat, ita crines non similes suis dormienti vellebantur. Carpebat enim iuvencula albos, senior vero nigros. Tandem ille calvo capite omnibus risui fuit.
글 작성/편집 올드코난 (Old Conan)
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