Week 3 Essay: Repeating Morals and Motifs in Aesop's Fables

There were many different things that recurred in the series of Aesop's (Winter) Fables that I read this week. There were repeating animal characters like donkeys, lions, wolves, and foxes. There were morals of the stories that overlapped and expanded on each other. The most popular morals were ones that warned against dishonesty and being prideful. And there were plot elements like trickery and betrayal that kept cropping up. I think these things were repeated because the author thought they were the most important and the most useful at conveying his message.

The wolf appeared in stories like The Wolf and the Kid, The Wolf and His Shadow, and The Wolf and The Lion. In the first one, the kid tricked the lion into not eating him, which highlights a recurring motif characters cheating each other. With that, the moral was "don't let anything turn you from your purpose" because if the wolf had stayed on task he would have won his prize. In the second story, the wolf sees his huge shadow on the ground and thinks he is much more fierce than in reality. The moral in the story was not to "let your fancies make you forget your realities." Here the repeating theme is animals getting a big head. In the last story, the wolf steals a lamb, but then the lion steals it from the wolf. The moral of the story was that what has been won through evil will be lost because of evil. I see this story's theme as being a combination of trickery and pigheadedness.

The fox played roles in stories The Dog, The Cock, and The Fox and The Fox and The Leopard. In the former, the dog and the cock were best friends, and when the fox tried to trick the cock into being eaten, the cock tricked the fox into being chased by the dog. The moral of the story was those who "try to deceive may expect to be paid their own coin," and the repeat motif was that both the fox and the cock tried to scam each other. In the later, the leopard thought himself to be both attractive and intelligent, but the fox clues him in to his foolishness. The moral was that "a fine coat is not always an indication of an attractive mind."

(Image information: "The Fox and The Leopard" by Milo Winter 1919.)

The donkey showed up in The Ass and His Driver, The Lion and The Ass, and The Ass and The Image. The morals of his stories tended to all related to motifs of stubbornness, foolishness, and deceit. In the story about the driver, the ass was taught a lesson about the downfalls of determination when his driver let him walk off the cliff edge. The moral was that those who are stubborn and don't listen are on the road to misfortune. In the story with the lion, the lion is given regal treatment, and because the ass is jealous, he scorns the lion.The moral was "do not resent the remarks of a fool" because they don't know what they are talking about. Similarly, in the story about the image, the ass is again jealous of the treatment paid to the image and tries to take the admiration for himself. The moral was not to take credit for someone else's actions.

The lion played in The Lion and The Ass and The Lion and the Gnat. In the story with the gnat, the gnat kept stinging and annoying the lion and making the lion scratch himself. The moral was not "to let pride throw you off guard." I think this is very similar to the moral in The Wolf and His Shadow.

The culmination of this comparison is The Ass, The Fox, and The Lion because so many of these repeat characters make appearances. The fox and the ass are best friends and the fox tries to sacrifice the ass to the lion to save himself, much like in the story about the dog, the cock, and the fox. While the moral of this story is that "traitors may expect treachery," I also see a theme of trickery here.