# The Traveller and Fortune explained — Aesop's Fables

> Chapter companion for Aesop's Fables by Aesop.

## What happens

A weary traveller falls asleep at the edge of a deep well, narrowly avoiding disaster when Dame Fortune appears to warn him. She points out that if he had fallen, he would have blamed Fortune rather than his own foolishness.

## Themes in this chapter

### Wisdom and Foolishness

The traveller's careless sleep at the well's edge exemplifies foolishness, while Fortune's intervention highlights the wisdom of taking responsibility for one's own actions.

### Human Nature and Vice

Fortune's remark reveals the human tendency to blame external forces like luck rather than acknowledging personal folly.

## Character check-ins

### Fortune

Appears as Dame Fortune to warn the traveller of his peril.

## Key lines

> Wake up, good sir, I pray you; had you fallen into the well, the blame would have been thrown not on your own folly but on me, Fortune.

Please wake up; if you had fallen, you would have blamed me, Fortune, instead of your own foolishness.

_Fortune warns the traveller and critiques the human habit of shifting blame._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters/the-traveller-and-fortune
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fables_se/chapters