'The Flying Fish and the Dolphin'

'The Flying Fish and the Dolphin', an illustration by John Vernon Lord 

in Aesop's Fables; 1989, page 70.

The Text: 

The Flying Fish and the Dolphin

A Flying Fish, being pursued by a Dolphin, and driven with great Violence, not minding which way he went, was thrown, by the Force of the Waves, upon a Rock, and left there. His death was now inevitable;  but, casting his eye on one side, and seeing the Dolphin, in the same Condition, lye gasping by him, Well,  says he, I must dye, ’tis true, but I dye with Pleasure, when I behold him who is the Cause of it involv’d in the same Fate.

Moral: Revenge is sweet when misfortune is shared by those who were responsible for it.

Text: adapted from Samuel Croxall (63, 1722).

Selected Parallels: L’Estrange 1/90. Chambry 132. Perry 113.