Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
172. AN UNHAPPY MATCH (Perry 95)
There was a Man, a long time ago, that had got a Shrew to his Wife, and
there could be no Quiet in the House for her. The Husband was willing
however to make the Best of a Bad Game, and so for Experiment sake, he
sent her away for a while to her Father’s. When he came a little after
to take her Home again, Prithee Sweet-heart (says he) How go Matters in
the House where thou hast been? In troth, says she, they go I know not
how: But there’s none of the Family, you must know, can endure me: No
not so much as the very Hinds and Ploughmen; I could read it in the Faces
of them. Ah Wife! Says the Husband, If People that rise Early and come
Home Late, and are all Day out of your Sight, cannot be Quiet for ye,
what a Case is your poor Husband in, that must Spend his whole Life in
your Company?
THE MORAL. When Man and Wife cannot Agree, Prudence will oblige the
One, and Modesty the Other, to put all their little Controversies into
their Pockets, and make the Best of a Bad Game.
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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