The Grasshopper and the Octopus:
All year long the grasshopper kept burying acorns for winter while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched TV. Then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus ate all his acorns and also he got a race car.
Just kidding. Beatings to whomever doesn't know where that came from.
Ok. Here it is for real:
One clear spring day, a squirrel was sprinting down a path towards his larder. Off the side of the road he saw something he hadn't noticed before. There, under the shade of a tree, sat an old goat quietly chewing his cud. Next to him was an upturned water bucket, with a note scratched into the wood that read:
"UPTURNED THIS BUCKET REMAINS!"
Struck with curiosity, the squirrel quickly ran up to the goat and asked why the bucket was upside down.
"The hawk, who looks over this valley, turned over the old bucket for reasons I do not know. He scratched the note there and told me to look after the bucket and warn any who may try to right it."
"Warn of what?" Inquired the Squirrel.
"Foolish regret." said the old goat.
"Is that so, you silly goat? You spend your days looking over an old bucket and you have no idea why. You are old and soon you will die. The hawk must have given you this duty so you will feel of use, since you are too weak to do much else than sit under a tree and chew cud."
"The hawk is generous, yes, but he is also wise," said the goat. "I believe he gave me the task because my years have given me discipline to carry out my duty day in and out without fail. If he were to choose someone young like you, you would leave it alone to chase after a young female or try to store your larder under it."
"You have been stupid old timer," scoffed the squirrel. "You protect only yourself from foolish regret. The bucket is empty and the hawk took pity on you!"
And with that, he ran up to the bucket and kicked it over.
What lay under the bucket was a giant cockroach. As soon as the warm sunlight touched it, the cockroach began chasing the squirrel around the base of the tree. Wherever the squirrel fled to, it followed. Finally, the cockroach caught up with the squirrel and began to eat him.
Between cries of agony, the squirrel shouted:
"Goat, you tricked me!"
The goat ran for help as fast as his old legs could take him, but he did not get far; for the shadow of the hawk crossed the valley and sped down towards the tree. He swooped down and picked up the cockroach and dropped it from a great height to its' death.
The hawk returned and looked sternly at the squirrel, lying in terrible pain.
"That goat tricked me," croaked the squirrel "he should be dropped, too!"
The hawk responded with a look of pity. Then he turned to the goat and said:
"Goat, you have done your job, and a good one at that. Go the mouth of the river. It will take a while to get there, but there is sweet grass there that you can call your own and you will stay well fed for the rest of your days. I may call on you at some time and I hope you will permit me to give you another important task."
The goat thanked the hawk and gingerly walked toward the path without looking back.
Then the hawk retrieved the bucket and flew away, leaving the heedless squirrel to die of his wounds.
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6 comments:
I was wondering, at the end, if the squirrel would watch the bucket... but I guess there wasn't anything to protect the forest from.
I enjoyed the image of a roach chasing the squirrel around the tree. This fable sounded almost biblical in message- don't screw with things. Someone wise put it together this way for a reason.
I notice there's not a lot to comment about in each other's writing style on these. I guess the fable "voice" is something we're all familiar with and don't seem to have had any trouble replicating.
So why a roach? It doesn't seem the usual choice for the dangerous animal. Does it have meaning or symbolism for you?
I really think that the octopus learned his lesson... j/k. I don't think Fry even knew the moral of his own fable.
Woo! Another point for morbid fables. You know the feeling this gave me? The hawk very much reminded me of Aslan. Patient, fierce, wise...and everyone either learns their lessons or pays for their mistakes.
I think that the bucket was sort of an odd human intrusion to the animal tale. Perhaps the cockroach could have been under a rock or in a hollow stump or something like that.
But other than that, I have no complaints. I think that having a slumbering cockroach under the bucket was startling. The whole tone of the fable got a little darker, a little grittier. And then we had a squirrel eaten alive.
It was kind of a nice shock in the midst of the nice talking animals we expect in stories.
I chose the roach because I think cockroaches are fucking dis-gus-ting. I had originally thought of having the roach with a man's face, just to make it creepier, but I don't think it would have added anything besides a creep factor. I also had considered mentioning a farm nearby, which would have explained the bucket. But, I couldn't think of an easy way to slip it in.
*signs up for a beating*
I liked it! Especially because in the end, the squirrel didn't even get the lesson - he wanted the goat to be a scapegoat (badum tsss) for his own mistake.
I have to wonder why the hawk didn't just drop the cockroach in the first place. But come to think of it, I guess you throw a criminal into prison before you go to the extreme length of killing him or her.
I don't think the bucket needs explaining. It's part of the voice of a fable to have unexplained elements that are used to create situations from which to teach.
I think that the hawk didn't drop the cockroach in the beginning for the same reason that the bucket is no big deal. The bucket, the roach everything in the fable is a tool of the moral. There would be no moral if the Hawk just killed the cockroach before the story began.
I don't really get fables much, well not unless there is a "and the moral of the story is" at the end.
It was a good story though, i get the impression, that the hawk might just trap another cockroach and ask someone to watch just to see if someone will be foolish again.
oh yes... sign me up for a beating.
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