Using animals as the mouthpiece for morality
The majority of Aesop’s 300-odd fables are narrated by animals, as is common across many tales with a moral undertone. However, although they display animalistic traits, the protagonists reflect the actions and reactions of humans and are the mouthpieces of reasoning and moral stance. In ‘The Wolf and the Crane’, a wolf hires the bird to dislodge a bone from its throat but refuses to pay his debt.
In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.
- From ‘The Wolf and The Crane’
When pigeons call upon a hawk to protect them from a kite, many of them end up slain; more than could possibly have been killed by the hawk. Aesop’s moral conclusion is to ’avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease’.