Week 15 reading A: La Fontaine

When I saw that there was a poetry style of Aesop's Fables, I clicked right away. I love fables -- especially the ones Aesop wrote -- and poetry, so the La Fontaine unit sounded like a win to me!

I was excited to see some of my favorite fables: The Dog and His Image, The Fox and the Stork, and The Ass and the Dog. These three stories warn of the consequences of greed, revenge, and not helping others.

The Ass and the Dog, illustrated by Billinghurst.
Source: Mille Fabulae

As a kid, I always thought the dog who dropped his bone in the lake was so funny -- because what dog wouldn't do that? My dog would always try to pick up a second treat while still holding the first treat in her mouth, and always ended up dropping them both. So, not only is it true, it's a good allegory for people, too.

The story of the fox and the stork remind us that playing tricks on people (especially when they're hungry!) isn't cool, and you can expect to be treated the way you treat others, like how the stork served the fox food he couldn't eat after he served her food she couldn't eat.

The last fable is a simple tit-for-tat, eye-for-an-eye story. Again, treat others the way you want to be treated. Help others around you, not only so they will help you, too, but because it's the right thing to do.