“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: This fable is the inverse to The Boy and the Filberts and a corollary The Farmer and the Stork.
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. By wisely letting go at proper instruction, the Boy got more. Thus the adage, “Recusando omnia quae possumus amittere, nihil eorum quae debemus adipiscimur.” (“By refusing to give up all of what we could, we fail to get any of what we should.”)
Such as in The Farmer and the Stork, the Bird pleads for the Man to let him go, because there were better opportunities. Here, the Bird implies that the Man is foolish not to let him go, since there other (better) opportunities.
Indeed, the Bird might have quoted The Boy and the Filberts to persuade the Man to let him go. “Read your Aesop,” the Bird might have pleaded, “Aesop says the sage must let go! Don’t be a downright fool and let me go!”
And, by using such a persuasive time-tested Aesop’s fable, many a half-thoughtful Man would be persuaded by the Bird to let the Bird go. But, here, quoting Aesop would be more self-interested sophist rhetoric than truth of principle.
Therefore, 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, such as it seems, the lessons are opposites. But, we note astutely, it is the same principle but exposed from two opposite directions of factual application. “Multae sunt viae ad eandem metam.” (“There are many paths to the same destination.”)
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. However, 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.
Therefore, if our goal is Wisdom, in one fable it is achieved by letting go, and in the other fable, it is achieved by holding on.
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. Perhaps the Man would have actually achieved two Birds. If.
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 by risk—perhaps the vice of 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 foolish to hold on, and in The Bird in the Hand, it was foolish to let go.
“Enough is an abundance to the wise.” ~ Euripides
“Amittere proelium vincere bellum.” (“Lose a battle, win a war.”); “Aurantiis quae servamus fruimur, non corticibus quas abiecimus.” (“We enjoy the orange that we keep, not for the peel we’ve thrown away.”); “Recusando omnia quae possumus amittere, nihil eorum quae debemus adipiscimur.” (“By refusing to give up all of what we could, we fail to get any of what we should.”); “Multae sunt viae ad eandem metam.” (“There are many paths to the same destination.”); “‘Si’ est maximum parvum verbum in hoc mundo.” (“‘If’ is the biggest little word in the world.”) ~ grz
ChatGPT Review
Gregg Zegarelli’s “Enough is Enough – No. 100. Bird in the Hand” (GRZ98_100) offers a deceptively simple fable that becomes a vehicle for a multi-directional ethical analysis. Below is a comprehensive deep dive focusing on its pedagogical strategy, philosophical ethos, and implications within the AIS (Applied Integrity System™) framework.
🧠 SUMMARY OF THE FABLE
A Man captures a large Bird for dinner. The Bird tries to persuade the Man to release him, arguing that two more birds are in the bush nearby. The Man declines, satisfied with what he already has.
Moral: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
Theme: Satisfaction over speculative risk.
📘 PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGY
1. Contrapuntal Fable Framing
Zegarelli presents the fable not as an isolated tale, but as part of a dialectic pair with [98_9] The Boy and the Filberts. He then adds a third angle via [98_19] The Farmer and the Stork—offering a triangulated comparison that teaches not just what to think, but how to think about situational wisdom.
“In The Boy and the Filberts, it was foolish to hold on. In The Bird in the Hand, it was foolish to let go.”
Rather than teaching a single moral, Zegarelli positions each story as a pedagogical lens to be correctly applied to factual context. He guides the reader to practice comparative evaluation—training the mind to hold opposite truths in tension, as a lawyer or philosopher must.
2. Meta-Application of Aesop
Zegarelli cleverly introduces a rhetorical flourish where the Bird might quote Aesop (Filberts) to justify his release. But this, Zegarelli notes, would be self-interested sophist rhetoric, not principled truth.
This moment critiques misuse of principles for gain and teaches a critical habit: Don’t just quote principles—know when they apply. In this way, Aesop becomes not merely a storyteller, but a toolbox of heuristics in the hands of the wise.
3. Conditional Logic and Risk Analysis
The fable’s moral hinges on the “if” clause—“if the other birds are caught.” This leads Zegarelli to differentiate between guaranteed reward (Filberts) and speculative upside (Birds in bush). He thus integrates:
- Risk assessment (What is at stake?)
- Reward probability (How likely is success?)
- Cognitive framing (“If” is the biggest little word in the world.)
These elements point toward decision calculus—the mental model used in legal negotiation, investment strategy, and battlefield command.
🧭 ZEGARELLI’S ETHOS: A TEACHING OF RESTRAINT
The repeated invocations of Euripides, Latin maxims, and counterfactual analysis reveal a recurring virtue in Zegarelli’s work: disciplined restraint.
- “Enough is an abundance to the wise.”
- “Lose a battle, win a war.”
- “We enjoy the orange we keep, not the peel we’ve thrown away.”
These proverbs frame greed as not just foolish but counterproductive—a failure in strategic foresight. This ethos echoes Stoicism and the virtù of prudent kingship: Know what is enough.
🧩 AIS FRAMEWORK INTEGRATION
| AIS Pillar | Implication from GRZ98_100 |
|---|---|
| Discipline | The Man exercises self-discipline by not gambling on a speculative opportunity. |
| Wisdom | Knowing when to act and when to refrain is a keystone of wisdom. |
| Character | The Man’s decision reflects internal contentment rather than external persuasion. |
| Empathy Targeting | The Bird exploits empathy rhetorically, but the Man filters out manipulative appeals. |
| Risk Modulation | This fable models how to evaluate cost-benefit across certainty vs. speculation. |
| Doctrine of the Infant Soldier | The Man already achieved the goal (his dinner)—he need not be seduced into new battles. |
| Profitable Servant Principle | The Bird in hand is already productive. To abandon it for a “possibility” violates this principle. |
| Holmesian Duty | Doing what is right includes sticking to one’s rightful gains rather than overreaching. |
🔍 CONCLUSION: TEACHING WISDOM THROUGH DUALITY
Zegarelli’s deep comparative pedagogy clarifies that wisdom is not in the fable itself—but in knowing how to apply the fable. “The master must know when to apply which tool of a lesson.” This idea recurs throughout Zegarelli’s works and is foundational to the AIS philosophy.
In sum:
- The Man in the fable is wise not because he held on, but because he understood when holding on was the wiser course.
- The Bird attempts to weaponize rhetoric, yet the Man’s groundedness shows integrity unshaken by temptation.
- True wisdom is context-specific, not universal—thus each Aesop fable must be read as a conditional heuristic.
🏷️ CLASSIFICATION TAGS (GRZ98_100)
- Core Themes: Satisfaction, Risk Assessment, Wisdom, Restraint, Persuasion
- AIS Anchors: Wisdom through Discernment, Applied Self-Control, Strategic Thinking
- Related Readings:
- [GRZ98_9] The Boy and the Filberts
- [GRZ98_19] The Farmer and the Stork
- [GRZ98_52] The Dog and His Reflection (for greed risk reflection)
- [GRZ33] Greed is Good? (Business of Aesop lens)
- [GRZ182] Decline and Fall of the American Hegemony (Chapter on Education and Wisdom)
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/enough-100-bird-hand-essential-aesop-back-basics-zegarelli-esq-/
Related Articles:
- [98_9] Satisfaction, Appreciation and Greed – No. 9. The Boy and the Filberts – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_9] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_9]
- [33] Greed is Good? – The Business of Aesop™ No. 9 – The Boy and the Filberts [GRZ33] [LinkedIn #GRZ_33]
- [98_19] The Company We Keep. No. 19. The Farmer and the Stork – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_19] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_19]
- [182] The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Hegemony—Chapter 4 Excerpt—Education [GRZ182] [LinkedIn #GRZ_182]
- [98_8] Ideas are a Dime a Dozen – No. 8. Belling the Cat – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_8] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_8]
- [33] Greed is Good? – The Business of Aesop™ No. 9 – The Boy and the Filberts [GRZ33] [LinkedIn #GRZ_33]
- [98_52] The Implosion of Envy – No. 52. The Dog and His Reflection – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_52] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_52]
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