Whats your favourite fable?

Ok folks - time for more typing than just one word!

One of my favourite fables goes something like this - and please forgive me if I get this totally wrong.

An emporer calls on his wisemen to go out and learn everything there is to know about the world, write it all down and then bring it back for his Son to read it so that he may become the wisest King of all.

The wisemen run off and a year later return with a room full of manuscripts.

The emporer thanks them but says (queue deep powerfull voice!)
"This is far too much, my son will never be able to read all of this - go back out and condense it"

So they did just that, and another year later they return - this time with several volumes manuscript

Again the emporer thanked them but said
"This is still too much - condense it some more"

So they went off again and another year later they returned. This time with one piece of paper and on it was one sentence

The emporer held it up and read it out

"This Too Shall Pass"


The moral - everything, no matter what it is, good or bad, will end!

Phew - a bit deep for a Tuesday but thought I'd go for it anyway - your turn

AL

I am not sure if this is my favourite, but is one of them.

The Frog in the Shallow Well

Have you not heard of the frog that lived in a shallow well? It said to a turtle that lived in the East Sea, "I am so happy! When I go out, I jump about on the railing beside the mouth of the well. When I come home,I rest in the holes on the broken wall of the well. If I jump into the water, it comes up to my armpits and holds up my cheeks. If I walk in the mud, it covers up my feet. I look around at the wriggly worms, crabs and tadpoles, and none of them can compare with me. Moreover, I am lord of this trough of water and I stand up tall in this shallow well. My happiness is full. My dear sir, why don't you come often and look around my place?"

Before the turtle from the East Sea could get its left foot in the well, its right knee got stuck. It hesitated and retreated. The turtle told the frog about the East Sea.

"Even a distance of a thousand li cannot give you an idea of the sea's width; even a height of a thousand ren cannot give you an idea of its depth. In the time of King Yu of the Xia dynasty, there were floods nine years out of ten, but the waters in the sea did not increase. ln the time of King Tang of the Shang dynasty there were droughts seven years out of eight, but the waters in the sea did not decrease. The sea does not change along with the passage of time and its level does not rise or fall according to the amount of rain that falls. The greatest happiness is to live in the East Sea."

After listening to these words, the frog of the shallow well was shocked into realization of his own insignificance and became very ill at ease.

li: a Chinese unit of length equal to half a kimometre.
ren: a Chinese unit of length, approximately equal to 21/3 metres.

Read this not long ago, and made me realise my world is a lot bigger than I ever gave it credit for.

who's fable is next?

Craig

ps
Nice thread Al.