And the little tales
are one of the media through which we
elders may transmit some very slight share
of the benefit received by us, in turn, from
actual or transmitted experience.
The second kind has no preconceived
moral to offer, makes no attempt to affect
judgment or to pass on a standard. It
simply presents a picture of life, usually
in fable or poetic image, and says to the
hearer, "These things are." The hearer,
then, consciously or otherwise, passes judgment
on the facts. His mind says, "These
things are good;" or, "This was good, and
that, bad;" or, "This thing is desirable,"
or the contrary.
The story of "The Little Jackal and the
Alligator" is a good illustration
of this type. It is a character-story. In the
naive form of a folk tale, it doubtless
embodies the observations of a seeing eye, in a
country and time when the little jackal and
the great alligator were even more vivid
images of certain human characters than
they now are. Again and again, surely, the
author or authors of the tales must have
seen the weak, small, clever being triumph
over the bulky, well-accoutred, stupid
adversary. Again and again they had laughed
at the discomfiture of the latter, perhaps
rejoicing in it the more because it removed
fear from their own houses. And probably
never had they concerned themselves particularly
with the basic ethics of the struggle.
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