A TRAVELER wearied from a long journey lay down, overcome with

　　fatigue, on the very brink1 of a deep well. Just as he was about

　　to fall into the water, Dame2 Fortune, it is said, appeared to him

　　and waking him from his slumber3 thus addressed him: "Good Sir,

　　pray wake up: for if you fall into the well, the blame will be

　　thrown on me, and I shall get an ill name among mortals; for I

　　find that men are sure to impute4 their calamities5 to me, however

　　much by their own folly6 they have really brought them on

　　themselves."

　　Everyone is more or less master of his own fate.