Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Lion in Love

This is an Aesop's fable. Fables, parables and folk tales would not have existed for thousands of years unless there was truth in them. This fable is an example of that.


A Lion once fell in love with a woodman's daughter, and asked for her hand in marriage. The woodman was not so much pleased with the offer, and declined the offer of so dangerous an alliance. When the lion threatened, the man cunningly pretended to give in, saying, "I am honored, sir. But what great teeth and claws you have - enough to frighten any girl! If you are to marry my daughter, you must have your teeth drawn and your claws cut. " The love-struck lion complied straightaway, and then called on the father to accept him as a son-in-law. But the woodsman, no longer afraid of the tamed and disarmed bully, seized a stout cudgel and drove him away.

Moral: Misfortune will always befall him who loves unwisely.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Perhaps you can clarify for me.

Was the misfortune because because the love made the lion go all threatening to the father when it didn't get what it wanted?

Seems like you don't want to do that to a father.

little dynamo said...

Best hope that lion doesn't have friends.

Glen Filthie said...

Bah. A fable from a time of arranged marriages. The only modern moral to take from that is that some father in laws are assholes. Mine certainly is, and when that stupid bastard finally dies I will comfort my wife - and then go down to the local pub and buy a round for the house.

Mindstorm said...

http://www.xenosystems.net/war-in-heaven-ii/ - a nice story with a moral. Perhaps too obscure for an average reader. Deliciously humorous, if grasped.

little dynamo said...

Mindstorm--


Obscure? Sounded pretty topical to me. Apparently it's ALWAYS topical.


'Because they lead my people astray, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash; therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. (Ezekiel 13)