link to original reddit post by /u/ihaphleas


This is a continuation of a series of libertarian themed fables that I'm collecting.

See also:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldandBlack/comments/pa3acf/libertarian_fables/

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldandBlack/comments/pdt96c/more_libertarian_fables/

The Rabbit and the Lion, from the Kelileh va demneh

There was a lion that ruled a jungle and its occupants gathered together and offered to present the lion with an animal a day as an offering, so he would not hunt them. One day, the draw fell to a rabbit to deliver the meal to the lion, however the rabbit did not arrive on time and kept the lion hungry and waiting. When the rabbit arrived, he came empty-handed. Furiously, the lion demanded to know why. The rabbit claimed that he was going to present another rabbit as a meal, but that rabbit refused and claimed that he was going to feed himself to the real king of the jungle, another lion. The lion incensed by this challenge of authority demanded the rabbit to take him to the other lion. The rabbit took the lion to the edge of a well and showed the lion its reflection and told the lion that there was the other rabbit and lion. The lion roared and jumped into the well to attack and drowned.

The Wolf and the Lamb, Aesop

Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, sir" replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations."

The Cock and the Jewel, Aesop

A Cock, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: "If your owner had found you, and not I, he would have set you in a ring; but I have found you for no purpose. I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."

Disarming the Animals, Ihaphleas

One day the Gazelle, tired of the depredations of the Cheetah and Leopard, petitioned the King of the savanna, the Lion, to take away the weapons of the animals, so that they could all live in peace. Many of the other animals agreed and so a day was set to disarm all the animals. On the appointed day, the gazelles came to remove their horns, the warthogs came to remove their tusks. But many animals, notably, the Cheetah, Leopard and Lion failed to remove their teeth and claws as their supper depended on them.