Ten Unpublished Fables I

by Eliphas Levi (1862)

FABLE I
THE LION & THE YAPPY LITTLE DOG
One day his majesty the lion king became merciful. Mercy is supposed to be a royal prerogative, so why
shouldnt a lion occasionally have a generous spirit? Ours was bored. In a corner of the wood he found
a poor little dog, crouched and trembling. The king stooped to lick him gently, then picked him up
without hurting him; he carried him away and they lived together. The lion gave his friend plenty to
eat, the other scampered, yapped, jumped, marvelled, and even sometimes went as far as to bite the ear
of his sleeping protector. The awoken lion pushed him away without anger; anyone who cannot suffer
a little will never understand how to love. And the easy-going monarch kept his claws velvetted out of
tenderness and pity. The aggressive little dog assumed that the lion was a coward; he returned to the
fray, leaped on him furiously and pierced the skin of the royal ear.
In such a way a drop of water ends up making itself a path through the rocks.
The lion did not dare to roar. His hurt dignity kept him silent, but he gave ground to his feeble adversary,
and ran away, never to return.
Now for our moral.
Each of our heroes shall have an equal share.
Little dogs, do not insult sleeping lions;
Lions, do not take yappy little dogs for friends.
FABLE II
THE PIG & THE CAMEL
A pig wallowing in its sty, sniffling and snuffling in the greasy water of its trough, one day saw a camel
go past.
Look at that humpback showing off, he said, He really thinks hes somebody! He bends his knees to
be loaded up, he spends several days without eating or drinking,
and to lose even more weight, he travels. Does he think he can correct the gods,
(who dont forget their appetites) and bend nature to the will of his caprices? His unnatural abstinence
insults my need. Go away, camel; go and do your fasting somewhere else!
In the eyes of the weak, strengths are weaknesses.

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FABLE III
PASIPHAE & THE BULL
Pasiphae kept saying to her beloved bull: How white your chest is! How beautiful your horns are! Come,
I want to show you a flowery meadow; I shall crown you with the freshest flowers. Look at me with those
eyes of yours; they are so powerful and sweet - as brilliant and touching as the new moon. I love your
deep voice tenderly lowing. I am the queen and I have come to serve you on my knees. Bow down your
strong neck for my kisses. Come, I am as beautiful as Europa the fair, the virgin carried on the foaming
depths by a bull like you - but an easier lover. Love me. Your beautiful form is the one Jupiter assumed
when he was in love with mortals. Do I have to implore the underworld to help me to seduce you? Do
you want me to fill the air with my cries? Where can I find a voice or a song that would move you?
Woman, said the bull without looking at her, You are not bad at bellowing, but I would much prefer
the mooing of a heifer.
At the risk of annoying the dreamers, not all love is good:
Love makes us similar to the thing we love.
When you love a cow, you have to be a bull;
When you love a bull, you must be a cow.
FABLE IV
HOMER & THE SHEPHERD DOG
One day, when Homer was an old man, he was wandering without a guide,
walking sadly as he groped for the path, when his keen ears caught the sound of a dogs long howl.
He hoped the gods had given him some new help, and his feet struck a gravestone.
There the dog was whining lying on a stone, his pointless cries repeatedly begging heaven for his master,
an old shepherd, who no longer heard him.
Homer understood the whole story; his darkened eyes could still weep, though they could not see. He
wanted to calm the animals grief; he gave him a loaf of bread, his last provisions. He wanted to tear
him away from such places: Come, I need you, come and save my life! Come on, you see that the light
has gone from my eyes; you were sent to me by the gods. Poor dog, do not die guarding an empty shell;
your master can no longer hear you.
But the dog, despite these words, stuck to the rock and kept on whining. He refused the bread and the
friendship of this great man. We can forget love and good turns, but only the dog never fails to live up
to his well-deserved reputation as a faithful friend. He died without moving from the tomb of the old
shepherd.
He could undoubtedly have done better for himself; he could have helped and loved the great Homer;
But few tender friends, other than dogs, have understood better or behaved so well.

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FABLE V
THE RIVER & THE DROWNED MAN
The river flowed with beautiful fresh water; the radiant sun lit up the air and made the clear, peaceful
water sparkle as if with thousands of raindrops of liquid gold. The vast sky rejoiced; the sap was rising
and the earth shone with greenery and flowers. It was one of those days which seem like a sweet dream,
where everything that breathes is love and beauty.
But meanwhile, underneath the water, a man plunged deep in the mud was struggling for his life, and
for him, whose unseeing eyes were dilating, the waves were cloudy and the sky was black. He cursed the
deadly slope of the bank; as he writhed, he blamed heavens anger.
And when he had perished, sunk in the gloomy depths with his fists clenched,
the river rolled on still taking no notice, and eventually brought him peacefully to the bank, his arms
and legs green with weeds.
As calm as the sky on the fields of battle, its clear waves playfully lapped the bank,
and its voice murmured to the pitying crowd: I was refreshing him... it was his own fault he drowned.
Life is harsh, and human suffering does not change the serene majesty of heaven one bit; therefore since
fate might plunge you to the bottom of the water, if you are afraid of the steep bank, learn to swim.
FABLE VI
THE WOLF & THE RAM
Across the thick partition-wall of a park where rich-fleeced ewes grazed on fresh and flowery grass, a
certain wolf, who roamed the prarie, having assured himself that the sheepdog was asleep and would
hear nothing, addressed the bleating flock, saying: Dont be afraid of me, you who are kept by man for
his hideous meals; you who he already branded with his bloody mark; you who think yourselves safe,
when the butchers knife is already threatening you! Trust me, fate rewards courage. Push down the
wall of this hateful park, or, this evening if you have to be taken back to the fold,
run away, scatter into the woods, onto the plain; this is how to seize your freedom!
Yes, said an old ram, Your speech is wonderful; I like liberty, its a word I have a great respect for. But
far from the dogs and the shepherd, do you think that we will live without trouble and without danger?
Free, we will still find a prarie
of clear streams and golden sunsets, but tell me, Mr. Wolf, who will defend us from the assaults of such
as you? In submitting to the rule of men we avoid worse evils. Go away, friend wolf, we know you well.
Go back to your forests, or I shall wake the sheepdog.
This allegory is more relevant than you might think. And between ourselves I advise you, sheep, poor
sheep, do not trust wolves who preach independence to you!

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FABLE VII
THE BEE & THE ANT
An ant was watching a joyful honeybee happily plunging into the flowers, drunk with her honeyed
treasure, shining with the golden powder from her cups.
Look here, you stupid creature! said the ant. You are a living machine for human beings! They build
houses for you, they take care of their servant. I dont expect anything but bad from them myself; they
crush me underfoot, they knock down my barns. They have nothing but mistrust for me, whilst their
best poet has sung your praises. But how am I less busy than you?
Not at all, replied the bee. But I gave honey to the lips of Aristaius, whilst as for you, what would you
do for the sons of Apollo - bite them on the heel?
Selfishness takes revenge on selfishness. We must let nature take its course. All life is an exchange: if
you want to receive, you must give.
FABLE VIII
PYTHAGORAS & THE FOOLS
One day some fools said to the philosopher Pythagoras : Why are some people more attractive than us;
more loved, more famous and even more rich, and why are they called wiser or less foolish? Yet nature,
the mother of us all, must have created beauty and fortune and even intelligence for everyone! We must
seize these people, make them less attractive; take from them what they have that the rest of us dont
have, and hang them if they object!
My friends, put that idea out of your heads said the philosopher, and learn how to keep silent! I shall...
(But you must not tell anyone!) I shall reveal to you a great mystery. We must live several times, and
everything goes on a seesaw; the most beggarly will become kings; the whitest will have black skins.
Idiots must one day rule the human race by their sublime intelligence. For this you just need a bit of
patience, to wait for death, which comes much sooner than you think - perhaps tomorrow.
All my fools eagerly lent their ears to this entertaining theory, and were all delighted by their ugliness
and poverty. It was an excellent thing for the future, and the good people were on to a winner.
All is lost if one day the world forgets this important lesson: Ordinary people will never listen to reason;
to cure them of one foolishness, you have to make them foolish in a different way.

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FABLE IX
HERCULES & ATLAS
It is said that Hercules, the mighty conqueror of the Hydra with the regenerating heads, held up the
sky on his powerful shoulders in place of old Atlas, whilst the latter laid his eager hands on the apples
of the Hesperides.
The hero was a bit fed up - as anyone would have been - when his accomplice, faithless carrier of the
inaccessible treasure, ran off with the golden apples.
So the great avenger of men felt his blood boil with a rage that was only too justified,
and to run after his apples let the sky fall and shake the underworld.
We are assured that a most holy father nearly did the same one day. But happily one hand holds up the
heavenly vault. And if the leader of the human race were to stray from the quest for golden treasure, the
sky would take its course.
FABLE X
THE GOLD MINE & THE CONMAN
A master conman with flashy clothes, and laden with twenty gold chains in twenty different places, sleek
and comfortable in velvet decorated with lace, drummed up the gullible people with a long, noisy and
magnificent show, and said to them :
Good sirs, would your ladies like beautiful dresses and jewels; would your children like nice toys;
and you yourselves, would you like some new things, some gear maybe? Pay me for my secret, it is a
great treasure : I know of a gold mine; anyone can draw from it, fools as well as the wise. It belongs to
everyone, to subjects as well as to the king. Anyone can take it with them, you only need to know it; take
from it, spend it without counting, you will always see it renewed! To hear my secret costs twenty francs,
and I also demand your promise that you will say nothing about it.
So the crowd gathered round; people of all ages and all classes of society came to ask him for this lucky
charm.
So our fly dog would take them by the hand and lead them behind a curtain. Then, after a drumroll
on the big bass drum, he would whisper in their ear : This buried treasure trove which people dig in
every day without leaving a hole; this fertile country for the opulent lie; this land where the streets are
paved with gold - I am working there right now! Cant you guess what it is?... Well then - it is human
stupidity!

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