More Caution Required || Reading Notes: Aesop (Winter) Part B

Pride goeth before the fall and all that...

The Farmer and His Sons

Oftentimes the best lessons are taught through a little trickery.

To this extent, it is important that the sons engaged in the activity in order to understand the rewards that it gave. The father understood that he would have to trick them to get their willing participation.

The reported moral of the story is that "Industry is itself a treasure."
I've heard variations on this story several times. It would be fairly easy to write a new version of it.

The Cat and the Birds

Be wise and shun the quack.
A lesson that I think is really relevant today.
It's best to take your advice from those with the proper education and experience. Not from people who looked up the topic on Google.

I'm looking at you anti-vaxxers.

"Dressing up" as or pretending to be an authority does not make you one.
Interacting with frauds can be dangerous.

The Astrologer

Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.
Do not be so concerned for the future that you ignore the present.
Keeping your head in the clouds keeps your eyes off the road ahead.
Could easily be made modern with the idea of today's astrology.
It could also be about the interpretation of prophecy.

This is a common theme in many older works.
Perhaps what the Astrologer thought was the end of the world was simply the end of his world. (i.e. his death)

Mercury and the Woodman

Honesty is the best policy.
Honestly, just a fun story.
It makes me wonder if, perhaps, the other woodsmen will later resent the first woodman for his fortune in receiving the axes. Perhaps they will come to believe that it was due to something other than his honesty and will seek to punish him for it. (An idea for a spin-off story.)

Mercury and the Woodman

Bibliography:

Title: The Aesop for Children

Translator: Unknown

Illustrator: Milo Winter

(Individual links for stories attached to headers.)

Photo Credits:
Mercury and the Woodman

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