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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

258. THE RIVERS AND THE SEA
Perry 412 (Syntipas 4)

The rivers came together in order to make a complaint against the sea. They told her, 'Why is it that we come to you with waters that are sweet and fit to drink, but you change them into something salty and undrinkable?' In response to the rivers' criticism, the sea replied, 'Don't come, and you won't get salty!'
This fable depicts people who criticize someone inappropriately even though that person is actually helping them.


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.