Friday, May 5, 2017

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs), part A

A lion, a fox, a jackal, and a wolf went hunting one day and killed a stag. They had a hard time figuring out how to split up the meat. The lion told the animals to quarter the body. Then the lion said he got one quarter because he is the king, another quarter because he chased the stag, a third quarter because he is making the decisions, and the last quarter because no one will stop him. No one dared question him. “You may share the labours of the great, but you will not share the spoil.”
A slave escape his master and ran into the forest. He saw and lion and started to flee, but it wasn’t chasing him. The slave noticed that the lion had a thorn stuck in his paw. The slave removed the thorn and bandaged the paw, and soon the lion was able to bring the slave to his cave. They both lived together in the cave for a while before the slave was captured. The slave was put in an arena with the lion who hadn’t had food for a while. When the lion was let loose he remembered his friend and began to lick him. The emperor took the slave, and after the slave explained what had happened, pardoned him and set him free. “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls”

A man and a lion were contemplation which one was stronger. The man said that humans were stronger and show the lion a statue of Hercules defeating a lion. The lion said that that didn’t mean much because a man made the statue. “We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.”

A lion would try to hunt four oxen, but every time he tried, they would stand back to back. He could never approach them because of their horns. One day the oxen started fighting and split up. The lion was easily able to kill them one by one. “United we stand,
divided we fall”

A fox got into a theatre and saw a face staring at him. He was scared until he realized it was just a mask. Then he wasn’t frightened anymore. “Outside show is poor substitute for inner worth”

Bibliography:
The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs

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