Aesop's Fables

Some fishermen were out trawling their nets. Finding them very heavy, they danced about for joy and supposed that they had made a large catch. When they had dragged the nets to the shore, they found only a few fish: the nets were full of sand and stones, and the men were downcast beyond measure, not so much because of the disappointment that had befallen them as because of the very different expectations they had formed. One of their company, an old man, said, “Let us stop lamenting, my friends, for it seems to me that sorrow is always the twin sister of joy, and it was only to be expected that we, who were overjoyed just now, should next have something to make us sad.”