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The grumbler is the sort of person who, when a friend sends him over a share from his table, says to the bearer, ‘he grudged me soup and wretched beer, or be would have asked me to dinner.’ When he is fondly kissed by his mistress he says, ‘I wonder if you really love me with all your heart?’ He is angry with Heaven, not for sending rain but for sending it too late. If he finds a purse on the road he says, 'Ugh, I never find a treasure.' When he has got a slave cheap, after much begging from the seller, he growls, 'Ill be surprised if I have got a sound thing for a price like that.' To the man who hurries to tell him first the good news that a son is born to him he says, ‘Finish the story. Add that I’ll have to waste half my property in a feast over it, and you’ll tell the whole truth.’ Having won a lawsuit and received an unanimous verdict, he reproaches the writer of his speech with having omitted many of the points. If a subscription is got up for him by his friends, and someone says ‘Cheer up,’ Cheer up!’ he cries, 'When I’ll have to pay the money to every man and look grateful for it, as if I had received a benefit!'
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GRUMBLING is undue complaining
about one's lot.
