Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
105. A MAN AND A WOODEN GOD (Perry
285)
A Man that had a great Veneration for an Image he had in his House, found,
that the more he pray’d to’t to prosper him in the World, the more he
went down the wind still. This put him into such a Rage, to lie dogging
at his Prayers so much and so long, to so little purpose, that at last
he dash’d the Head on’t to pieces against the Wall: and out comes a considerable
Quantity of Gold. Why this ‘tis, says he, to adore a perverse and insensible
Deity, that will do more for Blows than for Worship.
THE MORAL. Most People, Clergy as well as Laity, accommodate their
Religion to their Profit, and reckon that to be the best Church that there’s
most to be got by.
 L'Estrange originally published his version of the fables in 1692. There is a
very nice illustrated edition in the Children's Classics series by Knopf: Sir
Roger L'Estrange. Aesop
- Fables which is available at amazon.com.
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