#06

“Os espíritos altamente analíticos vêem (quase que) só defeitos: quanto mais forte a lente, mais imperfeita se mostra a coisa observada. O detalhe é sempre mau” (Pessoa, 2008: 174).

PESSOA, Fernando (2008). Livro Do Desassossego. Lisboa: Relógio D'Água Editores.

The Fox, The Cock And The Dog

(Cunning in often caught in its own coils)
“A hungry Fox unable to believe his eyes,
Saw one night etched against the stars
A magnificent Cock – almost within his reach.
“Wake up, fine bird!” he called, “the world is rich:
I have such news for you it cannot wait.”
The Cock, high up, blinked and answered, “What?”
“Ah”, said the Fox, his mouth already wet,
“King Lion has made an universal truce:
No beast may hurt a bird at any price.
From this time on we shall live in peace.”
“Remarkable!” the Cock replied. “You mean
That I'll be safe from you, and you from men?”
“Exactly that. Come, take my paw, come down.
Let all the past be healed in one embrace.”
“Wait,” said the Cock craning his neck, “I see
Someone who'll want to join our jubilee.
Yes, look, he leaps towards us eagerly.”
“Hm!” said the Fox. “Can you tell me who?”
“Only the farmer's Dog. I think you know
Him... Yes?... Ah, must you really go?
I thought the three of us were all about to kiss.”
And he added just as Fox displayed his back:
“Surely you and he would love to speak
Of brotherly love and universal peace?”
“Be glad to, yes – but have no guarantee,”
(Shouted the Fox already far away)
“That Master Dog has heard King Lion's Decree”” (Aesop, 1982: 19).

AESOP (1982). New Tales From Aesop. Translation by Paul Roche. London: Honeyglen Publishing.

#04

““Happiness” had an element of inanity, verified by Greene in life and in his fiction: “Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil – or else an absolute ignorance.”
(Flaubert, in a letter of 1846, also felt that “to be stupid, selfish, and have a good health are the three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.” Acknowledging the possibility of a higher form of happiness, achieved incidentally in the exercise of deeper capacities, Flaubert felt that, in his own case, that, too, would remain phantasmal)” (Hazzard, 2001: 12).


HAZZARD, Shirley (2001). Greene In Capri. London: Virago Press.