Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Coyote and His Meal

Everyone really seemed to enjoy my own personal fable in last week's blog. I've decided to give you another and possibly even more down the line. In this spotlight, I am happy to present to you another one of my own personal fables known as "The Coyote and His Meal," written in 2011. Enjoy!

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A hungry coyote, having trapped a man in his den, was soon to slay and feast upon his flesh, however the man protested, “I forbid you to feast upon me. As a man, I possess a name, and those who are named are dominant over those who do not.” With a chuckle, the coyote replied, “Name yourself what you will, for by tomorrow, you will fill my belly.”

Moral: Pride is no saving grace.

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Unlike "The Fox and the Snake" which ventured away from the Aesop's formula slightly, this story follows the style of Aesop perfectly. I also included a moral with this one... per tradition.

The premise of this fable has to do with the ultimate worthlessness of false pride. People often think more highly of themselves than they really ought to. The argument the man in the story made suggests that he really had nothing worth bragging about in how he lived. Take note of that!

Why was his only argument that he was a man and had a name? What did he do as a man? Was he a carpenter? Did he paint? A sculptor? What was important about him? All he seemed to say was that he was a man and had a name, and those alone meant that he would be exempt from being killed and devoured by a hungry coyote.

Even though it is possible that the coyote would have just as easily eaten someone who lived a better life, this particular man seemed to have lived up to a point where he deserved his ultimate fate. I have always claimed that a life worth living actually takes effort. People who simply live and nothing else are wastes of life. Actually try and pursue your dreams. If the coyote gets you, in that case, then the story is a tragedy. "The Coyote and His Meal" is not a tragedy at all. It is more a fulfillment of destiny.

The coyote makes a funny comment at the end: “Name yourself what you will, for by tomorrow, you will fill my belly.” This is all about the nature of an animal. Animals only care about food and sex. He was not taking the man's claim seriously at all. He did not even understand what the man was talking about. He must have been thinking, "What does a name have to do with me not eating you? Sure, if you want a name then fine, but I'm here to eat." Animals do not care about human ego. They have certain things they are trying to accomplish and that is the end of it.

As to the moral I chose "Pride is no saving grace." This is one of my better morals. It is short and succinct. It wraps up the whole issue in 5 words. What do you think? Could the moral been something else? If you know of a better or different moral why not write it into the comments? I'd love to hear what you think!

So that is it for "The Coyote and His Meal." I have written a few more fables. I will let you read them as I get around to them. Fables were always fun for me to write. They are very brief ways to explain the problems with humanity and our relationship to the rest of the world. I look forward to showing you more!

Thank you for reading this blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thank you!