Misadventures in the Land of Fables #46
CONSIDER THE DOGS The latest fable, ‘Two Dogs, One Bone,’ was another written in response to ‘Capitalism and the Way of the Dog,’ a little essay, or screed, published on Twitter (X) by a user who calls himself, ‘Dmitry.’ (See discussion here.) Dmitry invited us to “go up to the next dog you see with […]
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #45
‘The Lion and the Scavengers‘ ~~~ When I wrote this fable, I neglected to make notes on the process. A week later, I had forgotten how and why it had come about, where the idea originated or what I was thinking at the time. Fortunately, I had written about the episode in my journal. It […]
Maxims & Proverbs
~~~ “the mosquito don’t buzz when it’s drinking your blood” ~~~ [illustration: Hans Hoffman, 1530-1592]
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #44
A great many fables consist of nothing more than a brief dialogue. As a rule, these fables pass me by. They’re too obviously didactic, too dry, the juice squeezed out of them, the flesh stripped. The dialogue typically takes the form of answer to a question or challenge, an answer which articulates the moral. And […]
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #43
‘The Young Lady and the Looking-Glass‘ by William Wilkie claims to be a metaphor for how fables work. A mother puts a mirror in the corner where her spoiled and willful daughter goes to sulk and thus, by seeing her reflection in these moments, they young lady is confronted by the deformity her behaviour inflicts […]
Fall in the Garden of Eden
Fruit falls from trees when ripe, if we don’t pick it, or if birds and insects and rodents don’t get to it first. Thinking about the Garden of Eden, I wondered what if the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil also fell? What if Eve found it on the ground and […]