Little Happier: A New Moral for An Old Fable

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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Gretchen Rubin (0:06)

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Gretchen Rubin (2:15)

I'm Gretchen Rubin, and this is A Little Happier. I love paradoxes, proverbs, coans, and teaching stories of all kinds, so of course I love Aesop's fables. I love a story with a moral. Over time, however, I have come to conclude that these fables often illustrate a lesson that's very different from the moral generally associated with the story. For instance, I don't think that the familiar fable of The Tortoise and the Hare actually illustrates the moral that slow and steady win the race. I think a more fitting moral would be something like, those with great abilities can be defeated by their own arrogance and idleness, or perhaps overconfidence can foster carelessness. There's a well-known fable that puzzled and upset me as a child, the fable of The Ass and the Lapdog. I almost always skipped it when I read and re-read my collection of fables.

Recently, however, I had an insight that has given me a new way of thinking about the story. There are many variations of this classic tale. In case you don't remember it, here's my version. Once upon a time, there was a farmer who ran a snug little farm. In the stable, he kept a hard-working ass. Inside the house, he kept a playful lapdog. The farmer made the ass work hard in the fields all day, but the farmer petted the dog, gave him treats and laughed when the dog jumped into his lap and licked his face. The ass became wistful when he saw the kindness that the dog received. He felt lonely and forgotten in his stable, where no one spoke to him or gave him treats. So to receive the same attention as the dog, the ass left his stable and walked into the house, knocking over furniture and breaking china as he moved. When he spotted the farmer sitting in his chair, he put his heavy hooves on the farmer's lap and gave the farmer's surprised face a big lick. The angry farmer called for help and his servant rushed to drag the ass outside. When the ass was forced back into his stable, the servant beat him soundly.

The accepted moral of the story is, behavior that is regarded as agreeable in one, is very rude and impertinent in another. Do not try to win favor by acting in a way that is contrary to your own nature and character.

As a child, I hated this story and its smug moral. I felt so sorry for the poor ass who was forgotten and got no appreciation for all his hard work while the pampered dog gobbled up treats and lounged around.

And why did the lap dog get such better treatment? Because he was small, cute, and fun. It was easy to give affection to the little dog, but much harder to be affectionate to the big ass, who was large and awkward and who didn't have such winning ways. I was reminded of this fable recently when I was reviewing my big collection of proverbs of the professions. I've been collecting these proverbs for years, and one of my favorite and largest collections comes from teachers.