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 제 124화 참나무와 갈대 (갈대와 나무) (Perry 70. The Oak and the Reed) * The Tree and The Reed
아주 큰 참나무가 있었다. 어느날 태풍에 참나무는 뿌리채 뽑히고 말았다. 참나무는 갈대들이 있는 곳에 쓰러졌다. 참나무는 갈대는 큰 피해를 입지 않은 것이 궁금해 갈대에게 이렇게 물었다. “이처럼 강한 바람에 어떻게 이렇게 약한 모습을 가진 당신들은 멀쩡한지 궁금하군요.”
갈대가 대답했다. “당신은 저 바람에 맞서 싸우려했기에 피해를 본 것이고 우리는 바람 앞에 자세를 낮추었을 뿐이랍니다.”
강한 것은 부러지는 법이다.
[올드코난 한마디]
이 이야기는 갈대와 나무라는 제목으로 많이 알려졌다. 이솝우화에 있다는 것은 몰라도 익히 들어봤던 친숙한 이야기로, 계란으로 바위친다는 한국 속담과도 유사한 교훈이 있는데, 해석하기에 따라 이이야기는 갈대는 현명하지만 비겁하기도 하고, 참나무는 미련하기도 하지만 의지가 있는 사람으로 비유되기도 한다. 개인적으로는 인생은 갈대처럼, 불의 앞에는 나무처럼 당당해야 하지 않을까 생각해 본다.
[영어 문장]
Perry 70. The Oak and the Reed
In a gale, a tree fell but reeds did not. It was observed that reeds can bend in the wind but trees can’t.
Obscurity often brings safety.
1. Eliot/Jacobs Version
“Well, little one,” said a Tree to a Reed that was growing at its foot, “why do you not plant your feet deeply in the ground, and raise your head boldly in the air as I do?”
“I am contented with my lot,” said the Reed. “I may not be so grand, but I think I am safer.”
“Safe!” sneered the Tree. “Who shall pluck me up by the roots or bow my head to the ground?” But it soon had to repent of its boasting, for a hurricane arose which tore it up from its roots, and cast it a useless log on the ground, while the little Reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over.
2. Townsend version (The Oak and The Reeds)
A very large oak was uprooted by the wind and thrown across a stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: “I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds.” They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.”
Moral: Stoop to conquer.
3. Aesop For Children (The Oak and The Reeds)
A Giant Oak stood near a brook in which grew some slender Reeds. When the wind blew, the great Oak stood proudly upright with its hundred arms uplifted to the sky. But the Reeds bowed low in the wind and sang a sad and mournful song.
“You have reason to complain,” said the Oak. “The slightest breeze that ruffles the surface of the water makes you bow your heads, while I, the mighty Oak, stand upright and firm before the howling tempest.”
“Do not worry about us,” replied the Reeds. “The winds do not harm us. We bow before them and so we do not break. You, in all your pride and strength, have so far resisted their blows. But the end is coming.”
As the Reeds spoke a great hurricane rushed out of the north. The Oak stood proudly and fought against the storm, while the yielding Reeds bowed low. The wind redoubled in fury, and all at once the great tree fell, torn up by the roots, and lay among the pitying Reeds.
Moral: Better to yield when it is folly to resist, than to resist stubbornly and be destroyed.
4. JBR Collection
A violent storm uprooted an Oak that grew on the bank of a river. The Oak drifted across the stream, and lodged among some Reeds. Wondering to find these still standing, he could not help asking them how it was they had escaped the fury of a storm which had torn him up by the roots. “We bent our heads to the blast,” said they, “and it passed over us. You stood stiff and stubborn till you could stand no longer.”
5.Harundo et Quercus
Disceptabant de robore quercus et harundo. Quercus exprobrabat harundini mobilitatem et quod ea ad quamvis exiguam auram tremeret. Harundo tacebat. Paulo post, procella furit et quercum, quae ei resisteret, radicitus evellit; harundo autem, quae cederet vento, locum servat.
글 작성/편집 올드코난 (Old Conan)
글에 공감하신다면 SNS (트위터, 페이스북)로 널리 널리 알려 주세요. ★ 글의 오타, 하고픈 말, 그리고 동영상 등이 재생이 안되는 등 문제가 발견 되면 본문 하단에 댓글로 남겨 주시면 감사하겠습니다