Thieves and Their Mothers - 5-2-16 - Aesop's Fables

Going through my sketchbook,  found one last Aesop Fable doodle I had done.  

Last meaning, for my first time running through them.  I don't think I'm finished with this yet.

This one was left aside because it's a harder one to take I think for some.  And one that I did because I think one of the interesting things about these fables, as they were written over the course of 1,000 years and edited, abridges and altered as years went by to fit whatever social morays were in place at the time, is that even the ones that seem a little out of place or harsh still hold a lot of truth.

"The Young Thief and His Mother"

One day a young thief was caught stealing some valuables from a wealthy family.  Upon investigation, it was learned that the lad had a long history of thievery (lots of "priors" as they say) and so was sentenced to imprisonment and death.  At the gallows he asked a last request to be able to speak to his dear Mother, and the request was granted.  He begged his Mother to please come close to him, for what he had to say he wanted to whisper in her ear.  His Mother obligingly leaned in so that her ear was within an inch of the doomed boys mouth, at which point the young thief pulled a Mike Tyson on her and clamped down with his teeth with all his might on her ear and ripped it from her head.  The attending priest asked the boy why he had done such a thing.  He replied that, "When I was a very small boy I would steal very petty things, quite small indeed, and when I would bring these trinkets home and offer them to my Mother as gifts she did not ever scold me.  She would instead laugh and say that they would not be missed and then covet those gifts.  As I grew older and more daring and at the encouragement of my dear sweet Mother, I stole larger and more valuable things until at last you see me before you.  I would not have become what I have become and landed here at death's door if it had not been for her and I wished to punish her.".  The priest looked at the poor bloody old woman and said, "He's right you know, the Lord hath said,...

MORAL:

"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he shall not depart therefrom."

Rough on poor Mom, but probably true.

Talk to you soon.

Judgemental Primates and Ungrateful Snakes - 4-11-16 - Aesop's Fables

I'm alive!  Been lax in posting as I've been finding my happy in finding places to play some music.  I've been successful, and more on that later, but in the meantime I HAVE been doodling some.  So let's catch up, shall we?

"The Wolf, the Fox and the Ape"

"One day a Wolf and a Fox got into an argument.  The Wolf accused the Fox of stealing something from him (what it was matters not, probably a fine piece of mutton or some such) and the Fox vehemently denied that he had stolen anything.  An Ape happened upon the quarrel and immediately set up judge-ship over the case.  After hearing both sides impassioned telling the Ape ruled.  "Wolf, I do not believe you lost a thing.  You never owned the item in question so I believe the Fox.  But Fox, I do still find you guilty as I believe you DID steal that from someone as foxes are known thieves.'"

MORAL:

"The Dishonest, even if they act honestly, get no credit."

"The Woodsman and the Serpent"

"One cold and wintery day as a woodsman was returning home from his daily tasks, he spotted something unmoving in the snow.  Upon closer study he saw it was a Snake, frozen and apparently lifeless.  The Woodsman feeling bad for the Snake and hoping beyond hope that he could revive it, tucked the Snake under his coat close to his body and hurried home.  Once home he wrapped the slightly thawed Snake in a blanket and lay him before the hearth.  The Woodsman's children gathered around and with fascination watched the Snake slowly begin to move and shiver and miraculously show signs of life.  When one of the children reached toward the Snake to pet him, the Snake bared his venomous fangs and reared back to strike.  Without hesitation the Woodsman drew back his ax and cut the Snake in 2."

MORAL:

"There is no gratitude from the wicked."

We're getting toward the end of my selections from the alphabetical list of fables I came across...I think this needs further study and I by no think I've plumbed anywhere near the depth it may go.

We'll see.

Talk to you soon.

Wolves and Clothes and Deja Vu - 3-18-16 - Aesop's Fables

My apologies for my brief hiatus.  I was caught up in real world BS like getting a job and transportation.  Rest assured my small but loyal band of blog followers, I shan't be long without drawing.  Strict doctor's orders to pick up my pen and my guitar on a daily basis to prevent any more loose screws in my noggin.  Thanks for sticking with me.

Back to Aesop's Fables, why don't we?

Today a familiar one to a lot of us, or so I thought.  There seems to be at least 2 stories with the same plot and title, but 2 separate morals and outcomes.

Here's "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" take 1.

One day a Wolf devised that if he altered his appearance and disguised himself as a sheep, he could get much closer to his dinner and more easily procure it.  That day he donned a discarded sheep's skin and blended in with a nearby flock and that night he was penned up and secured with the buffet of his dreams.  But as night fell and the Wolf took his time to select just the right sheep to dine on, the Shepherd returned to select his own meat for the next day.  He selected the costumed Wolf and immediately slaughtered him, even before he noticed that it was his sworn enemy The Wolf.

MORAL:

"Harm Seek, Harm Find"

"The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" take 2 and perhaps the more familiar version.

One day a Wolf devised that if he altered his appearance and disguised himself as a sheep, he could get much closer to his dinner and more easily procure it.  Sound like you've heard this one before?  The Wolf found a discarded sheep skin and donned it, soon to find that it was the hide of one of the young lamb's own mother.  The lamb happily followed the Wolf until they became separated from the rest of the flock and there the Wolf had a fine supper.  For some time the Wolf was successful in hiding amongst the flock and had many fine suppers at his leisure during his tenure as a sheep.

MORAL:

"Appearances Are Deceptive"

Feels good to be back.

Talk to you soon.

  

Wolf Pack - 02-17-16 Aesop's Fables

Time for some more Aesop's Fables, kiddies!

When I first started doing this I had a few self imposed rules.  1.) Avoid the better known fables and explore some that have faded by the mists of time.  2.) Make sure it's a moral that you can really believe in that has served to be worthwhile even though it was first attributed 2,000+ years ago.  3.) Don't draw the same animals over and over, choose fables with animals that aren't repeated all that often.

With that 3rd one I was consciously trying not to fall into the trap I mistakenly saw in Jay Ward's "Aesop & Sons" cartoons from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show in the mid-60's.  They'd use lots of wolves and bears and lions that all kind of looked alike and with Dawes Butler and Bill Scott doing most of the voices of the male characters, they seemed to blend together and not seem as unique.

But that's not the point.  The reason Aesop used these animals to personify flaws nd shortcomings in humans...they're not SUPPOSED to be unique.

Sometimes I'm dumb.  But then, working through these concepts is why I'm doing this blog.

So sometimes I'm smart.

Anyway, here's a couple with a wolf in them.  Maybe it's the same wolf, maybe it's not.  Not the point.

"The Wolf and the Lamb"

One day there was a Wolf who was quenching his thirst in a spring.  After seeing a Lamb drinking just downstream from him, decided upon a game for himself.  To prove that he was more than just a violent and brutish hunter and to show his cleverness and wit, the Wolf would not lay a violent hand upon the Lamb.  The Wolf would instead find a plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him.  "How dare you dirty the water I am trying to refresh myself with?  You insult your betters by dipping your dirty face in my drinking water!".  The Lamb bleeted back, "I can't be sullying your drink from here.  I am downstream from you so any murk you find was created above you.".  The Wolf said, "I remember you!  Last Spring when I came to this very spot to drink, you hurled great insults at me and called me foul names and insulted me greatly!".  "No." said the Lamb, "You are mistaken, that could not have been me.  I am only 6 months old and could not have been here a year ago.".  "I don't care," growled the Wolf, "if it wasn't you, then it must have been your father.  You shall pay for his sins." and with that he pounded on the Lamb, slaughtered him and devoured every last bit of him.

MORAL:

"Any Excuse Will Serve a Tyrant"

"The Wolf and the Shepherds"

One day a Wolf came upon a herd of sheep in a meadow being guarded by a pair of young Shepherds.  The Wolf stood down knowing that if he attacked any of the flock, the Shepherds would surely kill him and call themselves his better for having protected the sheep.  Later that day as the Wolf passed again, he saw the Shepherds resting 'round a fire and feasting on some freshly butchered mutton.  The Wolf approached them and simply said, "Look at you contentedly enjoying your fine supper.  But what a clamor you would make if I were to do the same to you."!

MORAL:

"Some Are Too Apt to Condemn in Others the Very Thing That They Do Themselves."

Talk to you soon.

Wolves and Cranes and Goats and Wolves...oh my. 2-11-16 Aesop's Fables

Aesop wrote lots about wolves.  Wolves were certainly a creature that Greeks knew well, and it carried over to Roman tellings as well.

Of course as we've discussed before, no animals would ever be as base and foolish as these characters...they're really all about people.

"The Wolf and the Crane"

A Wolf one day after a kill and feast, found himself with a bone lodged in his throat that would not dislodge.  Admiring the long slender beak and neck of a Crane, he offered said bird a huge sum of money as a reward if he would just reach down in his gullet and remove the source of his discomfort.  The Crane worked carefully and expertly, reaching his beak down the Wolf's throat and removed the bone.  When he asked for his reward, the Wolf simply scoffed.  "Your reward is that you were allowed to reach your head into a Wolf's mouth and safely withdraw it harm free.  This is an honor and you should be happy with that.".

MORAL:

"n serving the wicked, expect no reward and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains."

or

"Gratitude and Greed Go Not Together."

"The Wolf and the Goat"

A Goat was grazing happily high on a bluff and safe from danger, when he was spied by a hungry Wolf in the meadow below.  "Come down below, friend Goat.  The grass down here in the meadow is twice as sweet as the grass on that dangerous ridge.", called the Wolf.  The Goat seeing through the Wolf's ruse called back, "It's not for the grass that you call me down Wolf, but for your own hunger."

MORAL:

Beware of Friends with An Ulterior Motive."

Talk to you soon.

Widows and Wild Boars - 2-8-16 Aesop's Fables

More in the continuing saga of a middle-aged man and his sketch blog.  We join our hero today STILL obsessed with illustrating various Fables of Aesop...

This one and it's morals are dedicated to any of those "thrifty" folk out there whoever decided to take on a DIY home project (plumbing, carpentry, electrical, etc.) NOT because they had a talent at a certain discipline, but because they think they'll save a couple bucks by not hiring someone.  Only to having to call said professional later and paying that person who actually knows what they're doing double to fix the original problem AND fixing the destruction that YOU'VE caused.

You know who you are.

"The Widow and the Sheep"

A young Widow left by cruel fate to fend for herself one day contended it was sheering time for her sheep and she could gain some profit from his wool, but hoping to save some expense from the Sheerer in town, decided to do the task herself.  Inexperienced as she was and having no real instruction, besides doing a poor job of shearing the wool also ending up scratching, cutting and even stabbing the poor Sheep.  The Sheep finally broke away from her and exclaimed, "How much weight will my blood add to the wool to increase your pay?  This is sheer (hey, there's a pun there) torture, if you want mutton from me, there's a Butcher down the road who will kill me quickly instead of making me suffer.  If it's truly my fleece you want, likewise there's a Sheerer right next door to him!"

MORAL:

"The Least Outlay is Not Always the Greatest Gain."

Hmm.  Is a "Sheer" and professional sheerer, or is it "Sheerer?".  Note to self:  Look that up.

This next one could certainly be glommed onto by those folks out there who hold so dearly their right to bear arms and own guns, I take it in a broader sense.  If I want to move forward and perhaps turn this Aesop thingy in a profit thing like a book, I can't just talk a game.  I have to actually grab a pen and show something concrete.

"The Wild Boar and the Fox"

One calm and conflict-free day, a Wild Boar was in a clearing, sharpening his tusks on a stump.  A passing Fox asked why he was working so hard at such a seeming waste of time.  There were no hunters or other predators in view for the Wild Boar to be readying himself for battle or defense.  The wiser Wild Boar simply said, "I do it now, as it wouldn't do me much good to sharpen my blades at the very time I need to use them.".

MORAL:

"It is too late to whet the sword when the Trumpet Sounds"

Talk to you soon.

Under Appreciated Trees and Cocky Spiders - 2-5-16 Aesop's Fables

Honest!  This ISN'T an Aesop's Fable blog.  It's just my sketchbook's going that way for awhile.  You look back on all of this and laugh when I'm done 10 years from now or so.

"The Traveler's and the Plane Tree"

2 Traveler's hot and tired from traversing under the summer sun, spied the broad branches of a Plane-Tree and sought rest and relief of it's shade.  After a spell one Traveler sits up and says to his partner, "You know?  I don't think that there's a more useless tree than the Plan-Tree.  It bears no fruit, no nuts...it is completely of no use to mankind at all.".  The Plane-Tree rustled it's leaves and said to the Traveler, "You ungrateful POS!  You sit under my expansive shade to find cool relief from the Sun in your travels and dare to call me useless and unprofitable?".

MORAL:

"Some Men Underrate Their Best Blessings"

Next I gave myself the challenge of cartooning a spider and a silkworm.  I think I did a good job of the worm, the spider could use some work.  I think my downfall here was unseen by me, and that's how to color this simple pair.  Oh well, this is a sketch blog and here for experimentation and trials.

"The Silkworm and the Spider"

One day the Silkworm got a Royal order from Princess Lioness for 20 yards of silk, which She began to produce in earnest immediately.  A Spider came by soon and asked to rent a web-room nearby to ply her ways and in hardly any time at all spun an elaborate web of spider's silk upon which she bragged to the Silkworm, "Check out how gorgeous and delicate it is and done in no time.  Fess up, I am a much harder and efficient laborer than you!  Look how fast that was and you still working.".  The Silkworm said, "Yes.  Now no away kid, you bother me.  I'm trying to work on something worthwhile here.  Your webs only act as utilitarian traps for bugs and if any Man sees one, they easily brush it away and destroy your work even faster than you can spin it.  Useless filth.  My labors however are treasured and stored away for use by Royalty.".

MORAL:

"True Art is Thoughtful, Delights and Endures."

Another favorite of mine.

Talk to you soon.

Expectations and Good Deeds - 2-4-16 Aesop's Fables

Lotsa human types in today's fables.  Good introspection on all their thoughts?

"The Seaside Travelers"

One day a happy bunch of traveler's were walking along a seashore, when they spotted on the horizon what must have been a great ship.  They saw the opportunity, that if that wait till it came to shore, they could board and expand their travels to far off lands, and so for hours they waited.  As the object moved closer, they could see that perspective had deceived them and what they thought was a grand sailing ship was much, much smaller.  Perhaps only a rowboat.  Still they say the opportunity that presented itself and continued to wait until it came to shore.

Finally after waiting for most of a day, they object was close enough they they could see that it was neither a great sailing ship nor a humble rowboat, but just a huge cluster of driftwood, a great bundle of sticks tangled together and floating on the sea.  "We have waited all day for nothing.  We've cost ourselves a sure day of travels and experiences in anticipation of something which never came."

MORAL:

"Our Mere Anticipation of Life Outruns it's Realities"

Man.  Some of these really hit home.  No wonder they've been told over and over for thousands of years.

"The Serpent and the Eagle"

One day an Eagle saw a Serpent slithering along the ground and found what he thought was an easy catch for his supper.  Once the Eagle had the Serpent in his talons and was aloft heading back to his nest, the Serpent wound himself partially free and wrapped his coils around the Eagle in mid-flight and trapping his wings they both fell crashing to the ground where they continued their battle.  A passerby saw the conflict and seeing the Eagle about to lose, he stepped in and separated the 2, saving the Eagles life.  The torqued off Serpent seeking revenge, spat his poison into the passerby's water jug and slithered off confident he had brought death to at least one of his adversaries.  The man thirsty after his troubles, reached for his jug to slake his thirst when the Eagle who had seen what the Serpent had planned, knocked the jug form the man's hand, spilling the poisoned water on the ground.

MORAL:

"One Good Turn Deserves Another"

This Aesop guy was as smart as Uncle Remus!

Talk to you soon.

It's Our Nature! - 2-2-16 Aesop's Fables

Cartoon characters have long been cute cuddly animals.  Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Mickey Mouse and so on, but have you ever seen one that's a scorpion?  No?  Do you know why?  'Cause even with a cartoonists help, scorpions aren't cute.  It's in their nature.

"The Scorpion and the Frog"

One day a Frog and a Scorpion meet at the bank of a stream that they both wished to cross.  The Scorpion asked the Frog if he would carry him across.  The Frog asked, "How do I know that if I do, you won't sting and kill me?".  The Scorpion replied, "Because if I do, I will drown and die, too.".  So the Frog allowed the Scorpion on his back and commenced easily crossing the stream, when suddenly the Scorpion brought down his stinger.  While the both fell into the water to certain death, the Frog had time to ask, "Why did you kill me???".  The drowning Scorpion simply said, "I'm a Scorpion.  It's what I do."

MORAL:

"Self Destruction -'It's In My Nature.', said the Scorpion"

And as if a scorpion weren't an odd enough thing to try and cartoon, when's the last time you saw a cartoon amaranth?  This may be a first.

"The Rose and the Amaranth"

Once in a garden a Rose and an Amaranth blossomed said by side.  "I'm jealous of your beauty and sweet smell." said the Amaranth, "It's no wonder you are loved by everyone.".  The Rose replied, "Your envy is misplaced, friend.  My beauty is only for a short time and eventually my petals whither and fall and I die.  You/re flowers NEVER fade though, even if they are cut your beauty lasts and lasts.".  

MORAL:

"Greatness Carries It's Own Penalties"

Pretty insightful rose.

Talk to you soon.

Quacks and Caws! - Aesop's Fables 01-29-16

A couple of basic and short and sweet fables for today, but then aren't they all.  

This first one has a moral which I'm certain we've all heard at one time in our life though, I guess I wasn't sure where it came from, I always thought it had a Shakespeare feel to it.  After reading the fable though it struck home to a couple of similar stories that actually happened to me.  

Once I had gone to my GP and he was so distracted with his own bad back and his own complaints that his insurance didn't cover the surgery that would help him, that I'm sure my needs were wayyyyyyyyyy down on his priority list.  I wasn't happy with him.

Another more pleasant time that I thought of this saying was when my jaw kept swelling whenever I would eat.  That's right, my left jaw would swell to the point of m teeth not coming together when I chewed, but then after I would give up trying to eat by a 1/2 hour or so, it would return to normal.  After a few days of this, my hunger forced me to head into urgent care, there was no way I could wait a few weeks for my GP to see me.  The attending physician came to greet me wearing a neck brace and I thought, "How the hell is this guy going to help me when he can't help himself?".  After telling him why I was there, he said without batting an eye or even waiting a beat to process it, as if this were something he saw every day, he told me I had a calcium deposit in my salivary gland and it was blocking the duct from where the saliva should flow.  If I would just go to the store and buy a box of lemon heads and suck them, the sourness would force the duct to dilate large enough for the deposit to escape and not block the salivary flow.

I asked, "You're prescribing candy?".  He said, "Yup.".  I stood, shook his hand, thanked him and told him that he was the best damn doctor I had ever met.  Within a day of following his instruction, I was fine.  I never thought about his neck brace again and this moral didn't apply.

"The Quack Frog"

One fine day a Frog ambled out of his muddy home in the marsh and perched himself on a lilly pad, announcing to all who could hear that he was a great and learned physician skilled in all drugs and able to cure any disease.  A skeptical Fox heard and asked the Frog, "How can you promise to aid anyone else in their ailments when you can't even fix your own warty, wrinkly skin or wobbly way of walking?

MORAL:

"Physician, Heal Thyself"

"The Raven and the Swan"

A Raven perched high in his tree, looked down admiringly on the swans swimming in the lake.  He admired greatly their beautiful white plumage which seemed to give them the air of majesty and sophistication, and decided his own black feathers could be just as strikingly white if he just cleaned them in the lake as they did.  He abandoned his home and well being and hunting ground of his lofty nest and came down to the water to wash his feathers and match the swans.  He scrubbed and scrubbed for days and weeks, never changing the dark color of his plumage, never resembling the swans and eventually starved to death by removing himself from his own habitat.

MORAL:

"Change of Habit, Cannot Alter Nature"

Talk to you soon.

Doe. A deer, A female deer. Aesop's Fables doodles 1-25-16

Happy Monday, Kiddoes.  Time for another coupla Aesop's Fables character sketches from your Old Unca Jeffy.

"The Peasant and the Apple Tree"

There once was a peasant with an apple tree.  The apple tree, though it bore no fruit, became a fine and happy home to a family of sparrows and also a group of grasshoppers.  The peasant feeling cheated that he gained no reward or profit from the tree and jealous of the happiness of the insects and birds, resolved to cut the tree down and rid himself of it.  The sparrows and grasshoppers not wanting to lose their home begged of the peasant to stay his ax.  They promised to sing long and sweet.  Songs to constantly lighten his labor and share the benefit of the tree's standing.  The peasant seeing nothing concrete in their silly songs swung his as once, twice and a third time to the horror of the little animals.  On his third strike to the apple tree he had reached the hollow of the tree and found inside a great beehive oozing with sweet honey.  The peasant tasted the honey, saw that it was good and promptly repaired the tree and forever pledged to care for it and protect it from harm.

MORAL:

"Self Interest Alone Moves Some Men"

"The One-Eyed Doe"

A doe with only one eye, used her wits to find a way to graze safely and keep alert to predators.  She found a meadow which opened up on a cliff that faced the sea, so she could position herself with her good eye siding to the open meadow to watch for danger, leaving her blind eye to the cliff from which she assumed would be safe.  One day while happily grazing on sweet grass and alfalfa, a small group of fisherman were returning to their harbor from the sea and saw the vulnerable venison on the hoof and one took great care and aim and threw a spear and caught her mortally in the side.  On the does dying thoughts were,"WTF?

MORAL:

"Trouble Comes from the Direction We Least Expect It."

That's it for today, Kids.

Talk to you soon.

You're Never Too Old - Aesop's Fables 1-21-16

Today's sketches were again of Aesop Fables and these mark the 49th and 50th studies I've done on this topic.  Whether this turns into something more concrete or not, I've surely enjoyed doing them, studying them and sharing them with you all.

Both fables are human stories again, something I had thought was a rarity with Aesop, but now it seems not.  The antagonists in both stories are older people as well, showing you're never too old to learn or appreciate a lesson that life hands you.

"The Old Man and Death"

An old woodsman who had been after his trade for what seemed to him an eternity, was walking back home from the forest with his haul of wood over his shoulder when he decided enough was enough.  He looked to the skies in exasperation and called for the sweet release of death.  "Oh please, Death.  Come end this misery for me.".  Suddenly the figure of Death appeared ready to accommodate the Old Man's wishes.  The Old Man saw the finality of what he had asked, and nervously smiled and lied to him, "I was just stopping here to rest and lay my burden down, and now I need help in lifting it back on my shoulders so I may carry on.  This was the reason for my call.

MORAL:

"We Often Would Be Sorry if Our Wishes Were Granted"

or

"Careful What You Wish For, You Might Just Get It."

Now from the distaff side.

"The Old Woman and the Wine Jar"

One day an Old Woman was walking down a path, when she came upon a wine jar laying in the road.  Hoping that it would be full, she quickly gabbed it up and brought the mouth to her face to examine.  There was sadly no wine, but the sweet aroma, the intoxicating perfume of the wine was still there and filled her nostrils, her memories and her heart with much happiness.

MORAL:

"The Memory of a Good Deed Lives"

or

"What Memories Cling 'round the Instruments of Our Pleasure."

Aesop was an old softie.  Just like me.

Talk to you soon.

Aesop's Fables 1-20-16 - Misers and Weather Fronts

Still a little frustrated with my scanner distorting colors, but then again, this is a sketch blog, not a tech blog.  I made myself a little happier by switching pens from Micron to Graphic and coloring in ink rather than pencil.  Pencil colors seems far too subdued in my past attempts.

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, THOUGH!  On with today's installment of MORE Aesop's Fables character doodles.

I've been reading up more on the Aesop and whether he was an actual person or not and what kind of person he was if he was.  Also how scholars have deduced that a certain number of the stories credited to him actually pre-date the old boy by a few hundred years and a few more still that date from 1,000 years or so after he tripped off this mortal coil.  In trifling with that concept, I decided to not draw all of the human character in Greek or Roman togas, and at least in the first below even draw them in late 2nd millennium attire, just to give me some variety.

Enough yammering for today...Hyar tis!

"The Miser"

One day a rich old miser took all of his assets, liquidated them and poured them all into a single treasure, a huge gold nugget.  A large STONE of gold rather.  He took to the woods and beside an old brick wall, he dug a hole and buried his wealth for safe keeping.  Every day he would ride out into the woods and dig the gold stone up and admire it's beauty and more so his wealth for having owned such a thing.  A worker in the village noticed the Miser's regularity that he would ride off into the woods and decided to investigate.  He followed the Miser and saw him dig the gold up, sit and admire it, then bury it again and ride back to town.  The worker then simply dug it back up for himself and rode off to enjoy his new found wealth.  The next day when the Miser came to visit his treasure, he found nothing but an empty hole in it's place and began to moan and wail his unhappiness to the heavens.  A neighbor came by and asking what was wrong and them learning of the Miser's sad tale of woe said, "Why don't you just go get an ordinary rock and place it inn the hole and come admire that day by day?  It will serve you as well as the gold ever did, you didn't make the slightest use of it's value.

MORAL:

"The True Value of Money is Not in It's Possession, But in It's Use"

And my second doodle study today is another fable with a human in it, but this time with personified forces of nature as well.

"The North Wind and the Sun"

One day the North Wind and the Sun were arguing over which was the most powerful.  They decided that it would be the one to first strip a passerby of his clothes.  Soon a man came wandering along and the North Wind huffed and puffed and blew a gale at the man, but the colder and more fierce the wind, the more the man would clutch his clothes and wrap them around himself.  Then the Sun began to shine down on the man.  Stronger and hotter came the radiation from Old Sol that the man layer by layer removed his clothes to stay cool and was soon walking along comfortably in his nudity, proving that...

MORAL:

"Persuasion is Better Than Force."

Good stuff Aesop, whether you wrote them or not.

Talk to you soon.

Aesop Fables "M" 1-19-16 - Pride and Gluttony are Frowned Upon!

More Aesop's Fables doodles.  I wonder if other cartoonists doodle on topic every day?  Oh well,  I'm not other cartoonists I suppose.

A couple of goodie's today, I think.  Enjoy.

"Mercury and the Woodsmen"

One day a woodsman while felling trees near a riverbank, with a wayward swing lost his trusty ax into the river.  Crouching on the bank and pondering what fate would befall a woodsman without an ax, he was surprised by the god Mercury who asked the woodsman what troubled him.  The woodsman no sooner told of his predicament than Mercury dived beneath the water and re-emerged with an ax forged of gold.  "Is this your lost tool?", asked Mercury.  Wondering at the beauty and value of so great an ax, but being as honest as they come, the woodsman's reply was. "No.".  Mercury again dove under the water and re-emerged with an ax forged of solid silver.  "Is this your trusty ax?" he asked.  "No.  Would that it be, but it is not." answered the woodsman, and Mercury dove into the river's depths once again.  When he arose from the water with the woodsman's own common wood and iron ax, the woodsman bounded with glee and thankfulness at it's return.  "Oh thank you, Great Mercury!  I am forever in your debt for returning my ax to me that I so foolishly lost!" cried the man.  Mercury was so struck by the man's honesty that he dove back down a 4th time and returned with the gold and silver axes and gave them to the woodsman as a reward.

The woodsman returned to his village and showed with great pride his new found wealth of axes made of such valuable metals and told his story to everyone he met.  I greedy and envious woodsman overheard this and decided to recreate this scenario for himself.  Taking his own ax and going down to the riverbank, he threw it in purposefully and then commenced to moan and cry to the god Mercury.  Mercury appeared soon and asked of the woodsman's plight, to which the man explained how he had lost his ax and would now not be able to make a living.  Mercury dove under the swift waters and came back up with an ax made of solid gold as he'd done before.  The greedy woodsman cried, "That's it!  That's it!  That, Great Mercury, is my ax true and sure!!".  Mercury, disgusted by the man's dishonesty stole back the golden ax and plunged it into the river and for good measure refused to recover the man's actual ax, costing him his way of living.

MORAL:

"Honesty is the Best Policy"

and another'n...

"The Mischievous Dog"

A young and mischievous dog, perhaps a bit too aggressive and playful for his own good, used to run up to people and bite them from behind for no other reason than his own sick pleasure of being able to do so.  Hi owner, embarrassed and exasperated at the way his dog was treating his friends, neighbors and strangers alike, placed a bell around the dogs neck that would ring loudly and warn anyone of his rearward approach.  The dog, proud of the shiny medal around his neck, pranced around town showing off his pride to anyone who would see.  When he finally approached an old hound who was acknowledged by all the dogs of the village as wise beyond his years. The Wise Old Hound saw the bell and said, "Why do you make such a spectacle of yourself?  That clanging thing that your master harnessed you with is NOT an award of merit for being a grand dog.  It's rather a mark of disgrace.  Public notice to all that hear, that a poorly behaved and fairly worthless dog is approaching.".

MORAL:

"Notoriety is Often Mistaken for Fame"

That one's for all the Kardasians out there.  And all the Donald Trumps.

Aesop wrote this one 2,600 years before you were born so you wouldn't miss it.

Talk to you soon.

Aesop's Fables: The Bald Guy Series from "L" to "M" - 1-14-15

Here we go again with more Lion exploits from our friend Aesop.  Transforming to the "M" here as both stories have a baldness gag in them.  Almost seems too telling and maybe Aesop himself was bald?  Here's a pic of an Hellenistic statues claiming to be of hissownself.

Doesn't appear to be.  'Course that could be a wig...or he could have bribed the sculptor to chisel him a handsome coif.  Neither here nor there though.  These are a coupla good uns.

"The Lost Wig"

A Lion who had lost his mighty mane found his vanity required he wear a wig to hide his bald pate.  One day while strolling by the riverside, he came to meet with one of the Tiger Sisters.  Just as he pulled together all of his charm to greet her with, a gust of wind came along and blew his toupee off and down the street.  Miss Tiger of course began to laugh at the misfortune of the bald Lion, but his quick mind and sense of humor overcame and he saved his own face by saying, "How could I expect another man's hair to stay put on my head when I couldn't even talk my own hair into sticking around.".

MORAL:

"Wit always has an answer ready"

Our "M" story today is a rare tale of humans handling the chores of being foolish for themselves rather than implicating animals.  This one's about a middle-aged man who had the hubris to court 2 women.  Very different women mind you, as he say to beauty and benefit of both.  He courted one woman younger than him and another who was much older then he.  The Younger woman was embarrassed though to be dating an older man, would pluck a grey hair or two from his head.  The older woman was likewise embarrassed to be seen with a man so much younger than she, so each time she was with him she would pluck a black hair or two from hes head.  Eventually the man was plucked bald, and neither woman found him attractive and dropped him like a hot potato.  From 2 woman companions to 0 in nothing flat.

MORAL:

"Those who seek to please everyone, please nobody."

Ricky Nelson said that, too.

Talk to you soon.

1-13-15 Aesop's Fables MORE "L"! Heavens to Murgatroyd this guy talked about LIONS a lot!

Just as I'm certain there'll be slim pickin's when I go hunting for Aesop works that begin with "Q" or "Z", there seems to be a plethora of those in the "L" column so why the heck not explore more of them.

You know, Aesop used animals in his stories for 2 reasons I believe.  On one hand, it saved him from setting up characters and back stories and the whys of the way characters act.  Every animal has a distinct personae in our way of seeing them and so their personality and motivations are set from the get go.  Mice are small and meek.  Kid's (young goats) are naive and unthinking.   Sheep are gullible and believing of any lie they are told (you know, like Republican voters).  Dogs are loyal and true.  Foxes are sly and sneaky and have to use brains over brawn because of their relatively small size.  

And lions...?  Lions are prideful and boastful, fearsome with their great manes and mighty roars but - and that's a big but there - fallible and cocksure and egotistical i the way they expect all other creatures to respect them as king of the forest/jungle.  In reality (and folks of Aesop's day were much closer to the wild world of nature and would know this better than the average first world person of today would) they're scavengers as much as hunters.  It's the cheetah and the panther that chase down able bodied prey, they lions find the weakest zebra or antelope in the heard and bring them down.  More importantly, the Lion that we think of characteristically is the male.  Majestic, head of the pride, regal with his mane and mighty roar as I said before...but it's actually the female that is the real force.  She takes care of the young and does about 95% of the hunting.  The male sleeps from 18-20 hours a day and after a big meal, 24 hours is not an uncommon nap.  See?  They're just like peoples.

So there are LOT's of Lion Fables.  Prideful and shiftless at times.

The second reason is the same as why classic animated cartoons were usually animals.  Humans find it harder to face the fact that people could be as vain and envious as Daffy Duck or as gluttonous and slovenly as Sylvester if they're represented as people, but recognize all of their foibles and weaknesses if there is the distance of the character on display is a lowly animal.

Enough of my thesis though, this is a gol dern SKETCH blog, not a yammering one.

"The Lion, the Fox and the Beasts"

One day the Lion "King of the Beasts" took ill and lay in his cave suffering.  He put forth word to the other aimals that they should come to his bedside and hear his last words and his last will and testament.  Soon a Goat came and went inside the hear the King's dying words.  Later still a Sheep came to hear and went inside and later still came a Calf to hear the kings final words.  Before long the Lion was feeling much more healthy and felt that he wouldn't die after all and stepped from his cave out into the sunshine of the day.  When he did he saw that there was a Fox sitting outside just watching the entrance of the cave but not entering.  King Lion admonished him and scolded, "Why have you not come to pay your last respects to me?".  The Fox answered, "I beg Your Majesty's pardon.  But I noticed the tracks of all of the animals going into your den, but failed to count and tracks of those coming back out.  Until I see the Goat and Sheep and Calf return from your cave, I prefer to stay in the open air."

MORAL:

"It is easier to get into the enemies toils than out again."

Here's one where the Lion is not the jerk of the story, but the other character is the rare human. Who unsurprisingly is the chuckle head in question.

"The Lion and the Statue"

A Man and a Lion are in a debate, more a heated argument, over who is greater, stronger, more formidable.  When there argument reached an impasse, the Man led the Lion to where there was a statue of Hercules wrestling with, defeating and slaying a lion.  "See?", said the Man.  "This proves that Man can best Lion in any conflict.".  "That's pretty good," replied the Lion, "but proves not a thing.  After all, it was a Man that sculpted that statue"

MORAL:

"We can easily represent things as we wish them to be."

See?  Just like Republican.

Talk to you soon.

Aesop's Fables "L"! 1-12-16

Giddyap, Jeff!!  The new year's a-waiting on you!  It's already the 12th!

OK.  OK.  Here you go.  A couple more Aesop's Fables doodles, this time from the "L" column.  Lotsa lions here, it turns out.

S'OK.  Lions are fun to draw.

Playing with settings on my scanner.  The colors don't come out just right, but then again, colored pencils aren't really the best for reproduction.  I'll probably digitally color if the goes further.  

And why shouldn't it?

"The Lion and the Mouse"

An old standby to be sure that I'm certain we've all heard before, but such a worthwhile moral.

A Lion was lying in the forest asleep when he was annoyingly awakened by a small mouse running back and forth over his face, down his back and through his mane.  He awoke ferociously and caught the mouse and just before he killed it, the mouse begged him not to.  The Mouse said, "Forgive me this time and I shall never forget it.  You never know when I just may be able to return the favor."

The Lion thought that was pretty damn funny.  How could this little bugger ever help him?  He was so tickled by the notion that he let the Mouse go free.

Some time later the Lion was caught in a trap and the hunters who had laid the trap tied him to a tree so that they could carry him alive to the King and went to find a wagon.  While they were gone, the Mouse heard the Lion's cries and came to his aid and gnawed and chewed apart the ropes that bound the Lion and set him free.

MORAL:

"No act of kindness, however small, is EVER wasted"

or

"Little friends may prove GREAT friends"

True dat.  Now here's one that was less familiar to me, that I really dug when I read it.

"The Lion, the Ass and the Fox"

A Lion, an Ass and a Fox one day decided to combine their efforts and help each other in pursuit of a booty of treasure.  After succeeding in their task and with their prize before them, the Lion asked the Ass to divide the profits up fairly.  The Ass took great pains and great time to evenly divide what they had equally as possible and presented the 3 stacks to the others, then kindly deferred to the Lion to choose which he wanted, to show all fairness.

The Lion went into a rage and roared and gnashed his teeth and then killed and devoured the Ass.  He then turned to the Fox and said, "There are only 2 of us now.  Why don't you divide our treasure up in fair and equal parts and we shall take what's ours.

The Fox took great time and care to divide their gains into two stacks.  One stack held the smallest possible bit, the tiniest morsel, one part of one part and the other pile held all the rest.  99.9999% of all they had worked for, which he then presented to the Lion.

"The Lion grinned and complimented the Fox.  "Very good, my friend!  Whoever taught you the power of division has done a wonderful job.  You are perfect to a fraction!".  The Fox answered, "I learned it from the Ass by watching his fate."

MOTTO:

"Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others."

Coupla good 'uns there.

Talk to you soon.