danw@oliven.UUCP (danw) (03/04/85)
The Tale of the Bad Shepherd
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Once upon a time, there was a rich shepherd, who had many sheep.
He pastured them by the river, and waxed fat on their produce.
But the wolves came and preyed upon the sheep.
Now the shepherd was cowardly, lazy and bad. He could have
protected his sheep, by his own efforts or by those of his
hirelings, but he would not. He thought
"It is too dangerous for me to protect the sheep,
and too expensive to hire brave servants. Besides,
the wolves take only one or two sheep a day, and I
can stand the loss."
So he did nothing. Until, one day, a servant came to him,
and told him that he had seen a wolf, badly wounded, down in the valley.
The shepherd went out to see this thing for himself and, passing
a flock of his sheep, perceived an alarming thing. Some of the
sheep, despairing of other defence, had grown fangs and claws. They
were sharpening them on the stones, adopting a fierce
countenance. They were even attacking the wolves and driving them off.
At this, the bad shepherd was greatly agitated, and thought
"If the sheep defend themselves today against the wolves,
shall they not tomorrow defy even me and my herdsmen?
And then I shall not be able to treat them how I please,
or drive them where I will, or fleece them for my profit,
and grow fat on their backs"
So he called all his servants, and bade them scour the country, and,
were they to find any sheep with the means of defending itself, they
were to slay it at once. For he said
"The sheep are our prey, the wolves and I, and it is
against the established order of things, that they
should seek to defend themselves"
>Robert Firth
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I hope Mr Firth will not object to my posting this here. It seems
appropriate.
danw