James Baquet

    Lily is chatting with her classmate Becky in the common room of their dorm.

    Lily: Becks, can you give me some help?

    Becky: I’ll try! What’s the problem?

    Lily: My teacher gave us three morals, and we have to figure out which of “Aesop’s Fables” they belong to.

    Becky: Morals... You mean those sayings at the end of the fables, the ones that are supposed to teach us something? What’s the first moral?

    Lily: “Prepare today for the needs of tomorrow.”

    Becky: Oh, that’s easy! You know this story!

    Lily: I do?

    Becky: Sure! About the ants? And the grasshopper?

    Lily: Oh, yeah! The grasshopper is playing around all summer while the ants work hard.

    Becky: Right. And the ants tell him he’d better get busy, but he just keeps playing.

    Lily: Then winter comes, and the grasshopper asks the ants for help, but they tell him if he was foolish enough to play all summer, he must go hungry in winter. He should have been prepared.

    Becky: Very good! What’s the moral of the next story?

    Lily: I don’t even know what this one means: “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

    Becky: That means when we are in need, we’re forced to come up with new solutions.

    Lily: I see. Do you know a story about that?

    Becky: Sure! It’s not so common, but it’s called “The Crow and the Pitcher.”

    Lily: A crow is a big, black bird, right?

    Becky: Yes, and they’re known to be pretty clever. The story goes like this: The crow is thirsty and sees a pitcher of water.

    Lily: That’s good!

    Becky: Yes, but, unfortunately, there was only a little water in the bottom, and he couldn’t reach it. And he was afraid that if he tipped the pitcher over, it would break.

    Lily: Then he’d lose all the water! So what did he do?

    Becky: The crow carried stones to the pitcher, and dropped them in one by one, until the water level reached the top of the pitcher and he could drink.

    Lily: He really was clever! Okay, last moral: “Be careful what you wish for.”

    Becky: Got it! It’s called “The Frogs Ask for a King.” A bunch of frogs felt they needed a king, so they asked Zeus, the chief of the gods, to give them one.

    Lily: And did he?

    Becky: Well, he didn’t think they really needed one. So first, he just gave them a log. But they realized they had been tricked, so they asked again. This time, Zeus gave them a heron — a kind of bird — that started eating them up!

    Lily: Oh, so the moral, “Be careful what you wish for,” kind of means, “Be satisfied with the way things are — it could get worse!”

    Becky: That’s right, Lily!

    Lily: Okay, thanks for your help.

    Becky: This was fun!