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.