Prevod
Once, as the trees were being broken by the winds, they saw that the reeds remained unharmed and asked them how it was that they, though strong and sturdy, were snapped in this way, while the reeds, though slender and weak, suffered no harm. The reeds replied, “We know our own weakness, so we yield to the force of the winds and thus escape their onslaught. But you, trusting in your own strength, try to resist, and that is why you are broken.” The fable shows that in difficult circumstances it is safer to yield than to resist.
Izvirnik
Τὰ δένδρα ποτὲ κατεασσόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων, ὡς ἑώρων τοὺς καλάμους ἀσινεῖς διαμένοντας, ἐπυνθάνοντο αὐτῶν, πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ αὐτὰ μὲν, ἰσχυρὰ καὶ ἐμβριθῆ ὄντα, οὕτως κατακλᾶται, οἱ δὲ, λεπτοὶ καὶ ἀσθενεῖς ὄντες, οὐδὲν πάσχουσι. Κἀκεῖνοι ἔφασαν· „ὅτι ἡμεῖς συνειδότες ἑαυτοῖς ἀσθένειαν εἴκομεν τῇ τῶν ἀνέμων προσβολῇ, καὶ οὕτως τὰς ὁρμὰς ἐκκλίνομεν· ὑμεῖς δὲ, πεποιθότες τῇ ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει, ἀντιστῆναι πειρᾶσθε, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατεάσσεσθε.“
Ὁ λόγος δηλοῖ, ὅτι πρὸς τὰ χαλεπὰ τῶν πραγμάτων τὸ εἴκειν τοῦ ἀντιτάσσεσθαι ἀσφαλέστερόν ἐστι.
