Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea
THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA.
A Shipwrecked Man, having been cast upon a certain shore, slept after his buffetings with the deep. After a while waking up, when he looked upon the sea, he loaded it with reproaches that, enticing men with the calmness of its looks, when it had induced them to plough its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them utterly. The Sea, assuming the form of a woman, replied to him: "Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds falling on me on a sudden, create these waves, and lash me into fury."