When I recently republished the Aesop’s Fables BrowserBook, I set myself a challenge – and invited YOU to participate if you like:

* To read a fable, give some serious thought to the story and the moral, and then to write my thoughts here at the blog. (Here’s the original post)

Here is yet another rise to that same challenge.  The Fable is called:

The Cock and the Pearl

A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly he espied something shinning amid the straw.

“Ho! ho!” quoth he, “that’s for me,” and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard?

“You may be a treasure,” quoth Master Cock, “to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls.”

Moral:
Precious things are for those that can prize them.

Hmmm, let me mull this over in my mind a moment, “to a chicken, a kernel of corn is more valuable than a pearl”.  Duh, like I need an ancient fable to let me in on this bit of wisdom!  But then, chickens do indeed have “bird-brains” (as do, figuratively speaking, some people I know).

But, how smart would you have to be, to be able to figure out that you can exchange a pearl for quite a bit of corn (or any other goodie to eat for that matter)?  Not all that smart – even a dummy could figure that out.  (Is there possibly a book here? – “Pearls and Corn For Dummies” – I doubt it)

Maybe the moral is too shallow, on purpose!  Maybe we’re supposed to look for a much deeper use of this bit of “lore-wisdom”.

Is it true that “a man is defined by what he values”; can you judge the measure of a man by knowing what it is that he values?  And, if it is true, what practical purpose can we make with this knowledge?  I would venture a guess that “to know what it is a man values” is to know that man fairly well, because what a person truly values is not always that obvious – it takes time, and honest effort, to get to know someone that well.

I believe that I now see a good practical use for this gem of knowledge:  Observe what it is that _I_ value, and question the validity of those values, the reasons behind those values, the judgments that bring about those values …  This could certainly open up some avenues for “self-discovery”.

While Googling about, I came across an old book of verse called, “Fables For The Frivolous” by Guy Whetmore Carryl – published in 1898.  It seems that Mr Carryl liked to poke a bit of fun at some Aesop Fables through wit, pun, and poetry.  Here is one such frivolous fable:

The Precipitate Cock
And The Unappreciated Pearl

A rooster once pursued a worm
That lingered not to brave him,
To see his wretched victim squirm
A pleasant thrill it gave him;
He summoned all his kith and kin,
They hastened up by legions,
With quaint, expressive gurgles in
Their oesophageal regions.

Just then a kind of glimmering
Attracting his attention,
The worm became too small a thing
For more than passing mention:
The throng of hungry hens and rude
He skilfully evaded.
Said he, “I’ faith, if this be food,
I saw the prize ere they did.”

It was a large and costly pearl,
Belonging in a necklace,
And dropped by some neglectful girl:
Some people are so reckless!
The cock assumed an air forlorn,
And cried, “It’s really cruel.
I thought it was a grain of corn:
It’s nothing but a jewel.”

He turned again to where his clan
In one astounding tangle
With eager haste together ran
To slay the helpless angle,
And sighed, “He was of massive size.
I should have used discretion.
Too late! Around the toothsome prize
A bargain-sale’s in session.”

The worm’s remarks upon his plight
Have never been recorded,
But any one may know how slight
Diversion it afforded;
For worms and human beings are
Unanimous that, when pecked,
To be the prey of men they far
Prefer to being hen-pecked.

THE MORAL: When your dinner comes
Don’t leave it for your neighbors,
Because you hear the sound of drums
And see the gleam of sabres;
Or, like the cock, you’ll find too late
That ornaments external
Do not for certain indicate
A bona fide kernel.

Stretching My Mind
And Enjoying The Exercise
Will Dugan

Sometimes I wonder if the world has gone crazy!  Or maybe it’s just me – it certainly is possible that I have lost it (as if I ever had it in the first place).

There are times, when I’m having trouble making sense of some current events, that I find perverse pleasure in making nonsense.  And so it is with this Artful Act of Alliterate Verse:

Google Giggle Goggle Gaggle

First I Googled Giggle
And YouTube was a hit
That giggling little baby
Made me laugh until I spit
Yes I Giggled at the Google
And chuckled at the find
Googled Giggles can be funny
They can really blow your mind

Then I Googled Goggle
And YouTube hit again
Beer Goggles mock commercials
… Rib-tickling satire spin
I gawked at Googled YouTube stuff
I ogled smooth
I ogled rough
I Goggled many a Googled find
And eye-balled all til I went blind

Then I Googled Gaggle
Expecting YouTube geese
But YouTube disappointed
I found a Gaggle of Geeks
But back at Googled Gaggles
Google went to town
With Gaggles of geeks
And Gaggles of freaks
And Gaggles of geese abound
There’s Gaggle.org
And Gaggle.net
A flock of Googled Gaggles?
More than a million – You bet!

And then I kicked it up a notch
Alliterate fingers are not lazy
Gaggles of Giggling Goggled Geese
Can drive a Googler crazy
Yeah, I Googled myself quite mad you see
I Googled until my pants I peed
I Goggled at Google
I Googled and Giggled
I Googled for Gaggles
My pants I piddled
But still, I Googled and Goggled and Giggled
While sitting in a puddle of piddle.
Right in the middle of a puddle of piddle
I Googled for Gaggles Of Goggling Giggles

STOP !!

No, let’s Yippee on over to Yahoo!

What’s so funny about Peace Love And Understanding
(thanks to Nick Lowe for a song playing in my mind)
Will Dugan

Have you ever had one of those days – where you want to write something serious, something thought provoking, and deeply meaningful?  No, me neither. [devilish grin]

I am reminded of a song by a group called “Ten Years After” that has a line that goes something like this:

I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do.

And then, that line makes me think of another song – “Be The Change” – I’m fairly sure that this song was inspired by the famous quote of Mohandas Gandhi, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.“  And I realize that I am changing the world.  How About That

I’ve added another poem to the Poetry Section of WillDuWeb.  It’s called:

Old Man Shouts At Clouds

As the screen door silently squeaks
The old man to the front porch sneaks
He shakes his fist and stomps his feet
Nods and winks at apparitions he meets

In his mind there is no rest
There are pundits he detests
He stomps his feet and shakes his fist
Stuck in a rewind of a “that’s-wrong” list

There are no whispers – only shouts
Black and white has replaced all doubts
He thinks he knows – his balls are brass
He doesn’t know – his head’s up his ass

In the clouds, he finds traces
Of idiot words and idiot’s faces
He shouts at clouds, but he can’t hear
His words are drowned by wordless fear

Sometimes, the words just spill out …
And I don’t clean them up
I just write them down
Will Dugan

Another poem has been added to the Poetry Section of WillDuWeb.

I’m not sure why I like this nonsensical poem so much, but it is a lot of fun to read -

Out Loud, Real Fast.

I challenge you to try it a few times!

The Turtle And The Poodle Part 2

The turtle named Kaboodle
and the poodle that could doodle
met a chicken who had little but a noodle.
Wow! said the poodle that could doodle.
The chick’s got more than a little.
Her little’s in the middle,
It’s quite fit and fiddle.
I wonder if she’s smart enough to huddle.

So the turtle named Kaboodle
and the poodle that could doodle
huddled with the chicken and her noodle.
Wow! said turtle named Kaboodle.
I really dig this chicken and her noodle.
The noodle knows to huddle.
And the noodle’s not befuddled.
I wonder if the chicken can jump hurdles.

Oh my, oh yes – it’s just as you guessed …

The turtle named Kaboodle
and the poodle that could doodle
jumped hurdles with the chicken with the noodle.

Then the turtle named Kaboodle
and the chicken who had little but a noodle
posed for the poodle that could doodle.
And the poodle that could doodle doodled,
and he doodled,
and he doodled,
and he doodled.
He doodled oodles and boodles of huddles and hurdles,
He doodled chickens with noodles and puddles with turtles,
He doodled doodling poodles …
and hurtling noodles …
all drawn together with huddles and hurdles and puddles and turtles and …

But wait, oh yes – I know you have guessed -
We just have to do some verse for the puddle.

And it came to pass,
The turtle named Kaboodle
and the poodle that could doodle
and the chicken who had little but a noodle
fell into a puddle.
But the chicken had a noodle – so the chicken’s not befuddled.
And the chicken figured out how to get out of the puddle.

Then, the chicken who had little but a noodle
looked down upon the turtle named Kaboodle and the poodle that could doodle
as they huddled in the puddle looking up at the chicken and her noodle.

So the chicken with little but a noodle jumped back into the puddle
and they all commenced to huddle right in the middle of the puddle.

But then disaster struck (so sad, so sad, too bad, too bad)

As the turtle named Kaboodle
and the poodle that could doodle
huddled with the chicken who had little but a noodle -
The poodle that could doodle got befuddled
and ate our hero chicken’s little noodle.

So they’re muddled in the puddle – all of them befuddled -
The turtle named Kaboodle.
The poodle that could doodle,
And the poor little chicken who now has been denoodled.

I Like Words
They’re Sometimes Fun
I Play With Words
And Sometimes, Pun
Will Dugan

WAKE UP PEOPLE – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

It starts like this:

The park should be a warm and happy place, but the scene seems brooding – a grey, almost colorless setting.  A sullen woman with a sad voice intones, “I’m taking an antidepressant, but I think I might need more help.”

The voice-over states, as fact, “approximately 2 out of 3 people being treated for depression still have depression symptoms.”

Next, we encounter a man in morose contemplation, “I’m on an antidepressant, but I’m still not where I want to be with my symptoms.”

According to this commercial message, there is a drug that is FDA approved to work in conjunction with other medications that are used as treatment for depression – just in case your depression symptoms are not being alleviated with whatever your doctor has prescribed.  “If your antidepressant alone isn’t enough, talk to your doctor.  One option your doctor may consider is adding Abilify …”.

There is something wrong, practically absurd, about this commercial message.  Please, stop and think for a moment about what it might be ….

Is it the list of possible side-effects – some of them down-right frightening? (Permanent involuntary muscle spasms?  A sugar-induced coma from which you may never awaken?  Death?)

Is it that YOU are supposed to ask your doctor about adding this drug to your antidepressant medication?  (Shouldn’t YOUR DOCTOR be the one to consider the use of such a drug in the first place?)

Or perhaps, it is this:

If “approximately 2 out of 3 people being treated for depression still have depression symptoms” … instead of considering adding another drug to the regimen, shouldn’t we at least consider the possibility that something is wrong?  Something is wrong with the diagnosis procedure?  Or something is wrong with the prescribed treatments procedure?

Is your doctor one who has diagnosed depression and prescribed a medication treatment that does NOT seem to be alleviating your problem?  Should you ask him/her about adding another drug – especially a drug with such harsh possible side effects?

WAKE UP PEOPLE – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Just Thinking Out Loud
Will Dugan