Now with great pleasure, I now present to you the entire fable of "The Fox and the Snake" as written by T.K. Wade (me).
-----
A fox had heard word that snakes were known for their abilities in killing prey. Thinking snakes to be very slow and stupid creatures, the fox challenged the snake to a killing contest. The snake agreed to this and allowed the fox to have the first go. The fox hunted all day and killed every little animal he could find–eating them up. Indeed, he became quite fat. To the snake, he said, “As you can see, I have had no troubles in the hunt. My belly is full. Now, I would like to see a slithering snake do likewise. I do not believe you can do it.” And the fox was correct. The snake found it impossible to kill so many as his opponent, and this caused him to lose the contest. After all, he only managed to kill and eat one fat fox.
-----
What makes this story different then a proper Aesop's Fable? It's a tad more tongue-in-cheek. It has wit to it. Aesop usually avoided wit to get straight to the moral. But I have always been a wise-ass at heart.
My fable does not directly tell you that the snake eats the same fox participating in the contest. It merely insinuates it. This insinuation makes the story come out more like a clever joke than a proper moral tail. Yet there still seems to be a moral here.
Evil has no qualms about devouring other evil. There are no true friendships among bad people. The fox may have thought he was having a friendly competition with a like-minded creature, but in the end, the snake was only looking for an opportunity. So was the fox, if you think on it.
Snakes are often aligned with evil. They are patient opportunists. Foxes are commonly portrayed as clever tricksters with an ego. It was the ego of the fox in this story that ended up being his downfall. It was for no other reason than to prove his superiority to the snake. The fox even thought it would be an easy contest because of how slow the snake operated.
Despite it's narrative departure from the Aesop's formula, this is my favorite of my own fables. I always get a chuckle when I get to the end of it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I do.
Thank you for reading my blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thanks!
A most excellent fable! The ego of the fox was his downfall, the cold patient snake just had to wait for his opportunity. Thinking that the snake cared about the foxes game was prideful and short sighted. The fox was very human in his thinking whereas the snake was demonic.
ReplyDeleteLast line of your comment was what I liked the most about it. Yes, I see how the fox was more human in this.
DeleteIt is interesting that in killing the fox the snake is reaping the benefits of all the killing that was done. Evil loves sacrifice and those in charge rarely get their hands dirty. But it is the real villain who enjoys the fruits of these labors.
ReplyDeleteEverything you said was true and well said. But the really sad thing was that the fox kind of started it. Ego is the worst. The snake was an opportunist, and opportunist is just another word for trap.
DeleteHilarious! Pacing were perfect. The story was quick and easy to read. It made me laugh while enlightening me. I would say the moral is "sometimes less is more" and "you can lose by winning and win by losing." The fable reads like one of the ancient classics.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you! When I wrote it, I was trying to copy the way words were assembled in my Aesop's book. There was a particular way it was done, and even though I did a sort of tongue-in-cheek ending, I still write it in that fashion.
Delete