Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Aesop’s Fable, The Wolf and the Lamb. Aesop’s Fables is available for free download here.
The Fable
“A Wolf came upon a Lamb straying from the flock, and felt some
compunction about taking the life of so helpless a creature without
some plausible excuse; so he cast about for a grievance and said at
last, “Last year, sirrah, you grossly insulted me.” “That is
impossible, sir,” bleated the Lamb, “for I wasn’t born then.”
“Well,” retorted the Wolf, “you feed in my pastures.” “That cannot
be,” replied the Lamb, “for I have never yet tasted grass.” “You
drink from my spring, then,” continued the Wolf. “Indeed, sir,”
said the poor Lamb, “I have never yet drunk anything but my
mother’s milk.” “Well, anyhow,” said the Wolf, “I’m not going
without my dinner”: and he sprang upon the Lamb and devoured it
without more ado.”
.Note: I’ve heard this fable told another way, a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across a river. The frog refused telling the scorpion, that he didn’t want the scorpion to bite him. The scorpion swore an oath that he would not bite the frog. The frog agreed to transport the scorpion. When they reached the other side of the river, the scorpion bit the frog. The frog gasped, ‘But you swore an oath.’ ‘Ha, said the scorpion, I only can be what I am, a scorpion.’ Both tales caution us to be wary of those who will try to dupe us to accomplish get their way. A rule of thumb to remember, “The best predictor of future performance is past performance.”