Re: Would you read this story to your child?
Bapa Rao (brao@tis.com)
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 12:25:12 -0800 (PST)
> I agree. The story is totally horrible. What I find most objectionable
> about this story is that it belittles ambition and the desire to better
> one's lot.
Well, I didn't think it was a particularly good or original story
(just a so-so retelling of an aesop's fable) but the way I read it, it
triesto teach the importance of substance over style and form--the fox
is like the sleazy salesman who doesn't really have a viable product
but is trying to impress the customer with his fake rolex and borrowed
mercedes and smooth talk. (conflating "vaapu" with "balupu" as the
story said). When faced with someone with a real, substantial product
(the elephant) such salesmen will come to grief.
You can't have a value system that only extolls ambition without
balancing it with cautionary tales like this one. So it is not valid
to conclude, just from this one story, that our society doesn't
validate ambition. All we can say that it is part of a complex value
system of interlocking, frequently contradictory values. Panchatantra
is full of stories about small and weak creatures overcoming their
limitations with guts and ingenuity to conquer daunting odds like
lions, herds of elephants and so on.
My personal views.
Bapa Rao