“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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There was once a Man who was hunting for his dinner. He was fortunate to have caught a large Bird.
The Bird pleaded with the Man to let him go, because there were two birds in the bush right next to them.
“No thank you very much for your suggestion, Sir Bird. I am quite satisfied with all that you are to me, rather than what they might be to me.”
Moral of the Story: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Know when to be satisfied.
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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Articles: Satisfaction, Appreciation and Greed – No. 9. The Boy and the Filberts – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series; Greed is Good? – The Business of Aesop™ No. 9 – The Boy and the Filberts
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Why We Loved It: This fable is a seeming corollary to The Boy and the Filberts.
In The Boy and the Filberts, the Boy needed to let go of some of the filberts in order to keep any of the filberts. The Boy was foolish not to let go, and, by wisely letting go, the Boy got more. Here, the Bird pleads for the Man to let him go, because there were better opportunities; that is, here the Bird implies that the Man is foolish not to let him go. The Bird might have quoted The Boy and the Filberts to persuade the Man to let him go. And, with such a persuasive time-tested Aesop’s fable, many a half-thoughtful Man would be persuaded to let the Bird go.
But, let us consider it more closely. In The Boy and the Filberts, Aesop teaches the Boy was foolish to hold on, and, here, the Man would be foolish to let go. So, it seems, the lessons are not the same, but they are opposites.
Notwithstanding, both fables have an implied “if” clause, but with different implications and risks. In The Boy and the Filberts, if the Boy let go of some filberts, then he was guaranteed to keep the remainder of the filberts. No risk, all reward. In this fable, if the Man lets go of the Bird, then he is not guaranteed to get the other Birds. There is risk for the Man.
Whether the risk merits the reward is always an open issue: what we risk to lose, relative to the probability of achieving the reward. But, here, we are told that the Man had already achieved his objective, being his dinner.
Therefore, in fact, the Boy and the Filberts and The Bird in the Hand both teach the same lesson about the vice of seeking excess—perhaps greed—from two opposite factual perspectives. In this comparing and contrasting the fables, we see that Aesop’s teachings are merely tools for the wise, but not the end of wisdom itself: indeed, the master must know when to apply which tool of a lesson for the specific context.
We might observe that, in the Boy and the Filberts, it was greedy to hold on, and in The Bird in the Hand, it was greedy to let go.
“Enough is an abundance to the wise.” ~ Euripides
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
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