Have you all heard of the fable of The Wolf and the Crane?
I hadn’t ever heard of it until just a few days ago when a friend mentioned it.
I had to look it up and the moral of the story disturbed me. It ends with “Expect no reward for serving the wicked.” The Wolf asked for help, offering a reward to Crane for taking a risk and helping him. It says that because Crane was of a grasping nature, which could imply avarice or greed, she said yes.
But Wolf needed her for her grasping nature in order to grasp the bone. So which grasping is it?
Wolf walks away after being helped and gives no reward. And when Crane uses her voice to ask him to honor his word, Wolf tells her to be grateful he didn’t eat her.
How does this story lead to the moral to not expect a reward from the wicked? This just doesn’t sit right with me.
What would you say the moral is and why?
I’ve included the story below.
The Wolf & the Crane
A Wolf had been feasting too greedily, and a bone had stuck crosswise in his throat. He could get it neither up nor down, and of course he could not eat a thing. Naturally that was an awful state of affairs for a greedy Wolf.
So away he hurried to the Crane. He was sure that she, with her long neck and bill, would easily be able to reach the bone and pull it out.
"I will reward you very handsomely," said the Wolf, "if you pull that bone out for me."
The Crane, as you can imagine, was very uneasy about putting her head in a Wolf's throat. But she was grasping in nature, so she did what the Wolf asked her to do.
When the Wolf felt that the bone was gone, he started to walk away.
"But what about my reward!" called the Crane anxiously.
"What!" snarled the Wolf, whirling around. "Haven't you got it? Isn't it enough that I let you take your head out of my mouth without snapping it off?"
I think the moral of the story is to own your choices. Do not choose misery in expectation of a reward as the reward is not guaranteed. Choose what feels right to you and there will always be a reward in choosing yourself.
You are one of those new models! By seeing a new moral in this story and knowing that we make the choices, you are already embodying the new model. There are more of us like this, writing, sharing, teaching a more conscious perspective.
I think the moral of the story is to own your choices. Do not choose misery in expectation of a reward as the reward is not guaranteed. Choose what feels right to you and there will always be a reward in choosing yourself.
Riiiight?! I so agree. That a great new moral. And I so prefer new models and stories that show alternatives to the Wolf persona.
I’ll have to look into those! I’m a big fan of stories with deeper meaning.
You are one of those new models! By seeing a new moral in this story and knowing that we make the choices, you are already embodying the new model. There are more of us like this, writing, sharing, teaching a more conscious perspective.
Oh I see! I love this perspective.