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Fable: The Boy, The Camel and The Lion
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Fable: The Boy, The Camel and The Lion |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg 
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A diminutive little boy was riding through the desert on a tired, old camel, when they were confronted by a great lion who, snarling and exposing his teeth, stood in their path. "Stand back," said the lion to the child, "for I shall make nutriment of this beast who would bear much, whose body is filled with meat and water. I have long travelled through this barren plain without meal or drink, and being the stronger of the two of us, consider it my right to consume this creature's load as my own." The boy, unshaken, dismounted his camel obligingly and stood watching. Heeding not the boy, the lion pounced on the camel and ate of him, until he was so filled with meat and water that his body was tired, and he lay down in the heat of the sun to sleep. When he awoke, again dry and thirsty, he noticed the boy was awake, and had perched upon the bleaching skeleton of his camel, watching the lion intently. "Now you have taken everything that I once had," said the boy, "and I am no longer attached to this place. You are now master of all that you see." And the boy, pacing casually away, vanished into the blowing sands. The lion sneered at him and turned away, without regrets, when he heard a bustle once more behind him, and turned expecting to see that the child had returned. Instead a vulture had rested on the camel's skeleton and was picking sinew from the bones. "That is your dinner?" said the lion smugly. "Nay," said the vulture, with a sparkle in his eye. "It is my appetizer." Moral: He that thieves the desert aids the lost, not himself. http://www.livejournal.com/~new_formalism |
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| © Copyright 2004 Brian James Lee - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Aha...very good. Never did ask what was in the boy's assumed knapsack, that could have been shared, until the next watering hole... Very well done. |
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Munda Member Elite
since 1999-10-08
Posts 3544The Hague, The Netherlands |
Poor, poor lion uh?  I must say, this tale is everything a fable truly is(in my opinion): brief, to the point and a very good moral too. Much alike all the fables I read thusfar. I guess I love it, but then you always manage to impress me with your talent.  |
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Dark Angel Member Patricius
since 1999-08-04
Posts 10095 |
Very very good.. smiling here Enjoyed thoroughly.Beauty of the world which is soon to perish has two edges, one of laughter and one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder. |
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Dr.Moose1 Member Elite
since 1999-09-05
Posts 3448Bewilderment , USA |
Local Parasite, Nicely written, though,( to my way of thinking), the moral was a touch abstract. I did a couple of read throughs and came to the conclusion that, the boy got away, the lion gorged himself and had nothing left to eat or drink,and the vulture, being used to the ways of the desert, was going about business as usual. Yet what I don't get is who is lost? Not the vulture, nor the boy, so it must be the lion, yet he did not aid himself. Doc |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg |
Moose: I admit that this fable is in a way perverting Nietzsche's metamorphoses of the soul in Thus Spake Zarathustra. The child, who would be an independent and creative soul, is in my fable riding on the back of the camel through the desert. It is the camel that is guiding him, walking where it pleases. The boy is lost, but by no fault of his own. He happens to be located in a barren desert and could not be freed until the burden of this camel who would carry much, the creature who has gathered that which is necessary to survive in the desert, is taken by one who wishes to rule over the desert, to control it, as the boy has done previously, and has grown weary of doing. The boy willingly passes on the burden of rule over the barren wasteland. Not until the vulture, Death, arrives, does the lion see that what he has inherited is indeed a burden, and not the end in and of itself. The boy has tricked the lion, in a way, into relieving him of the feet that bound him to the desert. I guess my moral should have more directly reflected the boy's finding independence only in loss, but I so prefer an unhappy ending to a fable. I feel I'm still unclear. If so, then I'm sorry, I'm bad at explaining these things. To summarize, the boy riding the camel is restricted and unable to walk for himself because he is bound by the camel (who represents bland custom), but is at the same time obliged to it. When the lion forcibly takes it from him, and given a night to think on it, the boy comes to terms with his new freedom and leaves to live the remainder of his life happily, while the thief (the lion) must live with the not-so-rewarding rewards of the desert. The vulture comes to him when he dies as a symbol of how death comes to this lion sudden and shockingly. Hope that suffices... maybe I should rephrase the moral. I spent more time thinking on the moral than writing the entire thing, because I had a difficult time summarizing it in so many words, so I over-simplified and admit to going with a bit of implied knowledge. Pardon my obscurity.  Brian http://www.livejournal.com/~new_formalism |
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Dr.Moose1 Member Elite
since 1999-09-05
Posts 3448Bewilderment , USA |
Brian, Thanks much for your in depth reply, it was quite illucidating. From that perspective, everything falls into place and answers my question.( No , it actually erases my question, because now that I have an answer, I no longer have a question). A good write, and thanks for taking the time to reply. Doc |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
I like the fable - and I like your explanation - which clarifies it further. Brian - you're really blossoming as a writer - It's nice to have you here in the workshop... |
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fayth Junior Member
since 2003-05-03
Posts 19 |
hello everyone, I was wondering if everyone has given up on odes? I didn't quite get it, I'm afraid  are we back to fables then? I love to read all your poetry but I guess I have to buckle down and write some of my own but are there baby classes? You're all far ahead and I am still struggling with meter, so where do I go for baby classes? help please? |
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