Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
Townsend version
A young man, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left. One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering gaily. He supposed that summer had come, and went and sold his cloak. Not many days later, winter set in again with renewed frost and cold. When he found the unfortunate Swallow lifeless on the ground, he said, "Unhappy bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the springtime you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought my destruction also."
L'Estrange version (A Young Man and A Swallow)
A prodigal young fellow that had sold his cloths to his very shirt, upon the sight of a swallow that came abroad before her time, made account that summer was now at hand, and away went that too. There happen'd after this, a fit of bitter cold weather, that almost starv'd both the bird, and the spendthrift. Well (says the fellow to himself) this sot of a swallow has been the ruine of us both.
Moral
Extraordinary cases are excepted out of the general rules of life: so that irregular accidents and instances are not to be drawn into precedent.
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved