How Simonides was Shipwrecked Aesop’s Fables

3.5

Simonides was a great Greek poet. He was very poor; so he went from town to town in Greece and read his poems about champions of sports festivals. After some years when he had money for the journey, he decided to go back to his home.

The ship on which he traveled was very old and it was shipwrecked in a storm. The passengers jumped into the water with their bags in their hands.

Simonides was carrying nothing and somebody asked him where his bags were. The poet answered that he was carrying with him all the riches which he had.

Many people died in the sea. They had their bags in their hands and could not swim well. But some of the passengers reached the land and went to the city near the coast. Their bags were in the sea now and they had no money or clothes. They walked in the streets of the city and asked people to help them.

A rich man who lived in that city knew Simonides's poems and liked them. When he saw the poet in the street, he asked him to his house and gave him clothes and money.

When Simonides saw the people from the ship in the streets again, he said: “I told you I was carrying all my riches. They were in my head. You lost all your riches in the sea, but I have all my riches with me.”