TWO neighbours came before Jupiter and prayed him to grant their hearts’ desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy. So to punish them both, Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that his neighbour had twice as much. The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbour had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious man, who could not bear to think that his neighbour had any joy at all. So he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means his companion would become totally blind.
Vices are their own punishment.
(Av. xvii.)
Avian 22. Probably Indian, occurring in the Panchatantra. It has been recovered among the Indian folk of to-day by Major Temple in his delightful Wide Awake Stories, p. 215; very popular in the Middle Ages, occurring as a fabliau, and used in the Monks' sermons. (See the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, ed. Crane, 196.) Hans Sachs used it, and Gower, Conf. Amani. ii. 2. Chamisso made it the basis of his tale Abdullah.
SurLaLune Note
Perry 580
