ARMED FROG

I cleaned up this one a bit.

Yes, it's an ARMED FROG ... wearing an old-timey swimsuit. Why? To summarize Aesop:

Boys throw stones at frogs for enjoyment. Frogs say, yo, dude, this activity may be fun for you, but it's killing us.

That's it. The whole fable.

Moral:
What's fun for you might have bad consequences for others.

My take:
If the frogs were well armed, this wouldn't be an issue. I'm thinking payback. Give the frogs appropriate weapons, like guns and machetes, and the boys will will have to find other means of amusement.

And the swimsuit? Fashion, baby. Fashion.

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TENTH ACEOp Fable:

THE CROW AND THE FOX

Summary:
Crow steals cheese, flies to tree to eat it. Fox sees her, says, "hey, you're looking mighty fine, yo. All sexy like. Too bad you can't speak." Crow opens mouth to prove him wrong, drops cheese, fox gets the snack.

Moral:
Don't be a sucker for flattery.

My take:
I think the crow knew what the fox was up to. She decided to throw him a bone (or cheese, if you will), in gratitude for the compliment. Plus, she probably figured the cheese would add unwanted weight to her sexy figure.

Here's the wife's take.

NINTH ACEOp Fable:

THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN

Summary:
Ass goes around wearing a lion's skin, scaring the local animals. Fox isn't scared, because he sees the donkey ears poking out and hears the "hee-haw."

Moral:
Don't get suckered into fearing fraudsters.

My take:
One word. Politicians. Every single last one of them. I'll say no more, so as not to alienate potential bidders.

Here's the wife's take.

EIGHTH ACEOp Fable:

THE STAR-GAZER

Summary:
Dude falls into a ditch while looking at the stars instead of where he's going.

Moral:
Dream all you want, cold, hard reality will be there to catch you when you fall.

My take:
This one makes me think of the Pixies lyric,
With your feet in the air, your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind

I'm extra fond of this one, so I'm going to charge a little more. Look at those great feet!

Anyway, having been beaten down by life, I am definately with Aesop on this one. Star-gazing is great and all, but only after rent is paid. Man, I'm cranky.

Here's the wife's take.

SEVENTH ACEOp Fable:

THE CROW AND THE PITCHER

Summary:
You know this one. The crow is thirsty, there's water in a pitcher, but not enough for the crow to reach it. So the crow drops in some pebbles to raise the water level to a drinkable height.

Moral:
Uh, smart people are never thirsty, I guess.

My take:
The crow in this fable is female. The wife points out to me that if this were a male crow, he'd get his head stuck in the pitcher and then parade around, proud of his accomplishment. In this case, I have to agree.

Here's the wife's take.

SIXTH ACEOp Fable:

THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER

Summary:
Crab mom tells crab kid to walk straight. The kid laughs at her hypocrisy.

Moral:
Don't be a hypocrite. Or maybe, don't deny your true nature.

My take:
This is the age-old battle between free will and determinism. Could the crab ever walk straight? That's not for me to say. I'm sure some crabs try to learn, though. Just like some humans try to get along with each other.

The wife's take.

FIFTH ACEOp Fable:

THE BOYS AND THE FROGS

Summary:
Boys throw stones at frogs for enjoyment. Frogs say, yo, dude, this activity may be fun for you, but it's killing us. That's it. The whole fable.

Moral:
What's fun for you might have bad consequences for others.

My take:
If the frogs were well armed, this wouldn't be an issue. I'm thinking payback. Give the frogs appropriate weapons, like guns and machetes, and the boys will will have to find other means of amusement.

The wife's take.

ACEOp FABLE NUMBER FOUR:

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Grasshopper gives Ant a hard time for working all summer. Winter comes, Ant is living off it's labors while Grasshopper is starving to death. Ant says too bad, so sad, I'm eating all the food you wish you had.

Aesop moral: Work if you want to eat.

My moral: Can't really argue with that one, except to say that life is short. Especially for bugs. Well, most bugs. Don't work too hard. Here's an image of Ant on his deathbed, and let me assure you he is NOT wishing he had spent more time at the office.

And here's the wife's take.

ACEOp NUMBER THREE:

THE DOG AND THE WOLF

Wolf wants to eat the dog sleeping outside the stable, dog wakes up and says I'm to skinny, come back after I've had a big feast. Wolf says true-dat, leaves and comes back later. The dog is on the roof, the wolf says "get down here, dinner!" and the dog says, "You can eat me if I'm sleeping where you can get me."

Aesop's Moral: Be like the dog and learn from your mistakes.

My moral: If your dinner is talking, you can bet he's going to lie to you. I'll ignore the odd animal choice here (as Iris
asks, why is a wolf wanting to eat a dog when there are probably chickens on the farm?), and point out the other side of the story. The wolf has mouths to feed, and now this poor cub will probably starve to death. Thanks, dog.

This is probably the only good argument against cannibalism: if your meal can talk to you, chances are he'll make excuses that will delay and perhaps deny you the calories you need to make it in this wolf-too-stupid-to-eat-dog world we live in.

2nd ACEOp Fable:

THE BOY AND THE WOLF

You know this one. Shepherd boy runs into town, saying there's a wolf. He's lying, of course. He laughs, the populace get's irritated. This happens two more times. The fourth time, there is a wolf, and no one believes the kid. All the sheep get eaten. Moral: Don't cry wolf unless there is a wolf. My only problem with this one is the notion that people will stop believing the wolf-criers. People love to be scared, because it gives them an excuse to hate people (or wolves?) they don't like.

I don't know why the boy in the picture is so... voluptuous. Artistic license, I guess.

My hand makes an encore for the sake of perspective:

UPDATE: What perfect timing! Illustration Friday's theme this week is "farm." Who doesn't love a two-fer?

First ACEOp Fable:

THE FARMER AND HIS SONS

My summary: dying father tricks his sons, saying there's something special buried in the vineyard. In reality, he just wanted them to till the field, which they did unintentionally while digging around. It's supposed to be a moral about the value of hard work. I just don't understand why the father couldn't just say, "hey. Till the field. The grapes will grow better." I guess you could say the sons were lucky, in that most get-rich quick schemes don't deliver. At least they turned a profit, albeit inadvertantly.

Anyway, here's one of the sons digging around. The other one is off on a Pepsi break.

In order to give you perspective of the size of an ACEO, I introduce:

MY HAND