Misadventures in the Land of Fables, #2
Many of Aesop’s fables are about predators. There must be over twenty featuring wolf, almost as many with wily but weaker the fox, as well as the lion, eagle, hawk, and snake. Tales of cunning, brutality, betrayal, but also mercy and cooperation.
‘The Wolf and the Lamb’
One of the most well-known fables, though one I admit I had forgotten, is ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’. A short, civilized dialogue which sees a wolf search for a reason to kill the lamb it has in its clutches; when its reasons are refuted, the wolf kills the lamb anyway.
It’s an old story. In origin, as well as meaning. There are antecedent versions of the fable from India and Persia. A panther accuses a goat of treading on its tail, a hawk accuses a partridge of stealing its shade (but it’s the middle of the night!) And Aesop provides another less exotic variation featuring a cat who toys with killing a cockerel.
The Human Dimension
The first thing to note about this story—apart from its brutal conclusion—is the ‘unnatural’ behaviour of the predator. A wolf would not hesitate to kill. A wolf would not worry about the justification. Nor would a panther or hawk. This introduces the human dimension with the wolf representing the threat of a powerful opponent, the tyrant, the state, an imperial or colonial aggressor, a bully.
It is an apt scenario for political metaphor, apt as a criticism of those who would wish to appear reasonable and justified in exercising their power over others. (Wikipedia cites a cartoon in Punch magazine (1893) denouncing French military ambitions in Thailand.)
But this unnatural behaviour, the delay in committing the murder, is also perplexing and in many versions the narrator feels the need to explain it, if only by revealing the predator’s decision to “not to lay hands on him” until he has reason. I don’t like this aspect of the storytelling. It’s clunky. It’s a weakness. (‘The Cat and the Cock’ has the advantage here of a predator who no longer has to kill for its dinner, who frequently ‘toys’ with its victims.)
The Wolf and the Lamb ~ Revised
‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ should be written from the victim’s point of view.
It is the lamb who experiences the surprise reprieve when the wolf hesitates, and the lamb whose hopes are further encouraged by refuting the wolf’s accusations, and it is the lamb who is misled and betrayed. We do not need to know why the wolf searches for an excuse to kill, we just need to watch out how it plays out.
The fable speaks to the innocent and powerless and warns not to trust reason or the law if the powerful are not bound by it also. It is the the potential victim who needs to learn this lesson. Innocence and righteousness offers no protection against the aggression of the powerful.
You’ll find my version on the fables page on this site, while below are links to a couple of earlier versions (at mythfolklore.net)
