The Fable Leg
Once, there was a man named Jack. Jack’s fondest desire was to own a ranch, with cattle, horses, and gardens. However, Jack knew nothing of ranching and even less about gardening. He did not even own any land on which to build his ranch. All around him, he saw other people achieving success – other ranches, farms, bakeries, and clothiers flourished.
Maybe I will go and ask another rancher how they got started, he thought to himself. And he prepared to go to a neighbor to learn.
Just then, a crow alighted on the fence next to him. It looked at him through its beady black eye and then said: You want to achieve the success your neighbors have.
Yes, answered Jack, but I have no land, no cattle, no garden, and no one to help me.
You need no one, said the crow. I can show you the secret.
What secret is that? Jack asked.
Lie down on the ground and grasp your bootstraps.
Jack did so, even though he felt ridiculous.
Now, pull yourself up!
By my bootstraps?
Of course! You are the only one who can help yourself!
Jack pulled, but nothing happened. It is not working! he cried to the crow.
You simply do not want it badly enough! the crow derided him. If you truly want to succeed, you’ll pull yourself up unaided, and the knowledge you need will manifest in your mind through sheer force of will!
Jack tried again, but to no avail. It still does nothing!
Keep trying! If you truly want to succeed badly enough, you’ll pull yourself up and have everything your heart desires.
Jack continued trying and trying. A week later, his neighbors came searching for him since he had not been seen in many days. They found him there, thumbs still looped through his bootstraps, dead.
The moral of the story: bootstraps are dumb. Reach for a hand.
Instructions
Leg 27 – The Fable Leg: Write a microfiction as a fable. A fable is a fiction that includes:
animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphised, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying.
You know, talking objects, rogue body organs, and other strange cosmic concepts. All welcome. Let them all behave terribly so. For example, a crow might sell your Da and Ma a new religion, or a shoe might learn humility (if that ain’t wild enough).
The rule here is one: A fable must end with a moral. The moral can be entirely useless, broken, or based on a common misunderstanding.
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