Maugham: Life is much more complicated than this fable

When I was young, adults always asked me to recite some fables written by La Fontaine, and they carefully explained the meaning of each fable to me.

One of the parables I've memorized is called "The Ant and the Grasshopper." The purpose of this story is to teach young people that in our imperfect world, diligence is always rewarded, and idleness is punished, which is certainly a useful lesson.

This wonderful parable is about ants busy preparing food for winter during the summer, while grasshoppers are singing leisurely to the sun on blades of grass.

Winter has come, the ants are comfortable, the hoarding is full, but the grasshoppers have not eaten or drunk, and their stomachs are empty. It came to the ant and begged for a little food. The answer given by the ant is the classic sentence:

"What did you do in the summer?"

"I'm really sorry, I sang. I sang it all day and night. ”

"You're singing, wow, so go dance."

I was never convinced of such a lesson. Not because I have a biased personality, but because my childhood logical reasoning ability is very poor, and the concept of right and wrong is vague.

I sympathized with grasshoppers, and for a while I stomped the ant to death whenever I saw it. The purpose of my wayward behavior is to express my dissatisfaction with prudence and common sense. Later, I found that this kind of action was completely reasonable.

One day I saw George Ramsay eating alone at a restaurant. Then I couldn't help but think of that fable again. I've never seen anyone with a sad face and a sullen face like George's.

His eyes stared blankly into the distance, as if the burden of the whole world had fallen on his shoulders. I really feel sorry for him. I immediately guessed that it was his hapless brother Tom who was causing him trouble.

I think there is a difficult scripture in my family, and For twenty years Tom has been the scripture of their family. When he first started his life, he was full of good things — doing business, getting married, having two children.

However, one day Tom suddenly announced that he did not like work, that he was not suitable for marriage, and that he was willing to be alone. He didn't listen to anyone's advice, left his wife, and left the office.

Tom was having a great time, of course, but everyone shook their heads and said, see what he does when he runs out of money.

The answer was soon revealed – borrowing. He's magical and doesn't care about anything, and I've never seen anyone borrow money more easily than he does.

Once, Tom nearly went to jail, and George was very upset. How could he put his only brother in jail?

The man who was defrauded by Tom was named Cronshaw, a man who had to be retributed, and he had to take the matter to court, saying that Tom was a villain and deserved to be punished.

George took a lot of trouble, five hundred pounds to settle things down. Who expected Tom and Cronshaw to cash the check together and immediately went to the casino Monte Carlo for a month.

Afterwards, When George heard about it, he was so angry that he was so angry, I had never seen him so angry.

For twenty years, Tom raced horses, gambled, attended balls, fooled around with the most beautiful women, and ate and drank in the most luxurious restaurants.

He was always gorgeously dressed and personable. He was forty-six years old, but people always thought he was no more than thirty-five years old at most.

He was extremely funny, and although everyone knew that his character was not good, it was a pleasure to associate with him. He was full of excitement, full of energy, and amazingly magical.

Poor George was only a year older than his idle brother, but looked like a sixty-year-old man.

For twenty-five years, he never took more than two weeks off each year. He came to the office every morning at 9:30 and never left until 6 p.m.

He was honest, hardworking, and of good character. Determined to save a third of his income, he planned to retire at the age of fifty and move to a small house in the countryside.

His life was flawless. He was glad he was old, because Tom was also old.

He rubbed his hands and said, "When Tom was young and pretty, everything was easy. But he was only a year younger than me, and in four years he would be fifty, and by then he would have a hard time. And by the time I was fifty, I had saved thirty thousand pounds. For twenty-five years, I always said that Tom had to be unlucky in the end. We'll see what he's going to do when he gets there, and we'll see if he's hardworking or lazy to get the rewards. ”

Poor George, I sympathize with him. Now I'm sitting next to him, wondering what to discreditEd Tom has done.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked me.

I guess maybe the worst happened, maybe Tom ended up in the hands of the police. George could barely say a word.

"You will not deny that I have been industrious, decent, honorable, and upright all my life. I've been diligent and frugal all my life, expecting to make a meager income from a little bit of gilt stockS I've saved in retirement. I always perform my duties in the living environment that God has arranged for me. ”

"Exactly."

"You can't deny that Tom is a lazy, mediocre, debauchery guy. If there was any justice, he should go to a shelter for the poor. ”

"Indeed."

George's face flushed red.

A few weeks ago, he was engaged to a woman old enough to be his mother. Now the woman was dead, leaving everything to Tom. Half a million pounds, a speedboat, a house in London, another in the countryside. ”

George Ramsey clenched his fists and pounded the table.

"It's really unfair, I tell you, it's really unfair, it's really unfair."

I looked at George's angry face and couldn't help but laugh out loud. I sat in my chair and shook it around, almost falling to the floor.

George never forgave me. But Tom often invited me to his luxurious house in "May City" for a good meal.

If he occasionally asked me to borrow a few dollars, it was merely out of habit, not more than twenty shillings at most.