Essay: Animal Wit

(Image Information: A fox; Web Source: Wikipedia)

In every case, the last man, or animal, standing was not the strongest, or the fastest, but was the most intelligent. This week was a nice shift of gears from mythology and into some shorter fables. The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai had plenty of stories, and almost every story, at the end, included a “winner” who was more cunning than his peers. Also, it is interesting to note that, in each story, there was usually one person who thought he was the smartest, but ended up being bested by another who was better than him.

For example, in The Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf, the hare intends to use the wolf as a means of removing the pesky fox from the hare’s worries. The hare devises an entire plan to have the wolf kill the fox; however, in the end it is the fox (commonly recognized as a cunning, or sly, animal) who emerges victorious, and the wolf who the hare was going to use to kill the fox, actually killed the hare. The fox was the smartest of the three creatures, so he survived in the end, capturing both the hare and the wolf.

Again, in The Camel Driver and the Adder, wit wins out. And this time, a fox is again involved in the victory. The camel driver, out of the goodness of his heart, saves the adder from certain death, only to be told that the adder still must kill him. He tries to wiggle out of it, but is unable to do so multiple times. Finally, before it’s over, a fox comes along and helps the camel driver. The fox tricks the adder into returning to the tiny bag he was saved in, and the camel driver closes the bag and kills the adder. Again, the fox (and the camel driver) wins.

Finally, there was the story of The Three Fish. This story blatantly says that wit is a most important quality. The fish who always used his wits was able to escape, the fish who sometimes used his wits was able to survive, and the stupid fish… he died. The moral of the story is be smart.