A fisherman skilled at the flute took his flutes and his nets down to the sea, stood on a jutting rock, and began to play, expecting that the fish, charmed by his sweet music, would leap out of the water to him of their own accord. When long effort got him nowhere, he set the flutes aside, took his casting-net, threw it, and caught a great many fish. As he tipped them out onto the shore and saw them flapping, he cried, "Wretched creatures: when I played the flute you would not dance, and now that I have stopped, you do."
*Even the right action fails when it is taken at the wrong time.
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