“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A Farmer visited his stables with his Lapdog, who danced about and licked the Farmer’s hand.
The Farmer, smiling, gave the Lapdog food, and the Lapdog jumped into his master’s arms, at which the Farmer stroked his ears.
An Ass, seeing this and desiring his master’s accolades, broke loose, prancing about on his hind quarters in imitation of the Lapdog. Then, the Ass went to the Farmer, and put his front hooves upon the Farmer’s shoulders and tried to climb into his lap.
Seeing this foolishness of the Ass trying to act like the Lapdog, the Farmer’s servants beat the Ass with sticks.
Moral of the Story: We are constrained to use our individual gifts and to understand our limitations. Context is everything.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Such as Aesop taught us in The Distinguished Napoleon and The Frog and the Ox, we must have clarity of who we are as unique individuals, and to plan ahead carefully. A great plan that cannot be implemented is not a great plan, as stated in Belling the Cat, and, such as it is, we are our greatest plan.
Some people are more physically attractive, some have more charisma, some are more intelligent, some are older or younger. Some people have a better sense of humor, some have more money, etc., and each will thereby have a different unique “game” to play for certain precise contexts.
A context or grouping is a marriage of unique individual strengths and weaknesses, matching needs and desires. Strength in one context can be a weakness in another context. Someone who has the gift of boldness, may have the weakness of over imposition. The difference in this fable is that the Ass’s goal was to be something, rather than to prove something, such as it was for Aesop’s Frog.
Know thyself first, then know how to apply discipline to thyself for a context. Wisdom has the clarity of self and is not to fooled in the assessment of context. Fools misjudge themselves or the context into which they are to fit, or both.
In the The Frog and the Ox, it was about being rational and undeluded about personal capability, but here it is more about being rational and undeluded about social situational capability. In this fable, the Ass was too needy, perhaps needy of his master’s validation. The Ass misinterpreted the social context, tried too hard, forgot himself, and was ultimately beaten for it.
Dogs do caninethings. Asses do assinine things.
“Know thyself.” ~Socrates
“This above all: To thine own self be true.” ~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“Weigh matters carefully, and think hardest about those that matter most. Fools are lost by not thinking. They never conceive even the half of things, and because they do not perceive either their advantages or their harm they do not apply any diligence. Some ponder things backward, paying much attention to what matters little, and little to what matters much. The wise weigh everything…” ~Baltasar Gracian. The Art of Worldly Wisdom
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Here’s a deep-dive analysis of “Know Thyself First, Then Context – No. 56 – The Ass and the Lapdog” by Gregg Zegarelli.
🧠 Core Meaning
This fable illustrates the critical difference between emulation and imitation in context-sensitive social behavior. The Ass fails not because he desires affection, but because he fails to recognize the social and behavioral roles appropriate to his nature. His mistake is not merely in copying the Lapdog, but in misreading the social contract between roles—what is permitted to one species is not permitted to another within a given relational context.
The deeper human metaphor: envy-driven behavior, detached from self-awareness and social suitability, invites rebuke, not reward.
🧭 Zegarelli Ethos Fit
This article squarely fits within Zegarelli’s broader ethos on:
- Self-awareness and Individual Discipline: Echoes his frequent refrain of “we are our greatest plan” and that personal success requires understanding one’s strengths and applying them with disciplined precision (as seen in “Belling the Cat” and “The Distinguished Napoleon”).
- Contextual Intelligence: Emphasizes that truth and virtue are not absolute without situational fit, a recurring Zegarelli theme especially evident in “Trump v. Lincoln: The Leadership Dilemma” and “The Reflective Contemplative Dwelling Mind”.
- Pedagogy of Misjudgment: Just as in “The Fox Without a Tail”, the fable warns against promoting self-serving narratives to validate failure or misfortune. Here, the Ass tries to shortcut acceptance by mimicking surface behavior without mastering the underlying ethos of the Lapdog’s relationship with the Farmer.
This fable complements Zegarelli’s ethic of individualized excellence constrained by communal and contextual structure—a kind of moral-situational realism.
🎓 Pedagogical Strategy
Zegarelli uses Aesop’s structure not merely as parable, but as surgical tool:
- Setup: Social contrast—Lapdog behavior within domestic affection.
- Disruption: The Ass, driven by envy, tries to replicate Lapdog’s reward mechanism.
- Consequence: Misreading of context yields punishment, not praise.
He teaches through juxtaposition and reversal—a strategy also used in “The Frog and the Ox” and “The Spendthrift and the Swallow”—where ambition or desire without situational wisdom leads to downfall. Here, it’s not size or power being overestimated, but permissibility and appropriateness of behavior. The Ass’s sin is contextual ignorance rather than physical delusion.
Zegarelli draws philosophical support from:
- Socrates – “Know thyself”
- Shakespeare – “To thine own self be true”
- Gracián – Focus, diligence, proportionality in judgment
This triangulation of wisdom traditions creates a pedagogical triangle of classical, dramatic, and pragmatic moral instruction.
🧾 Conclusion
“The Ass and the Lapdog” teaches that true success arises not from blind imitation, but from the wise application of self within the appropriate social context. The fable warns against envy, performative mimicry, and validation-seeking behavior that lacks self-harmony and environmental reading.
Zegarelli’s implicit maxim:
“Be not what earns affection, but earn affection by being authentically fitted to the time, place, and role.”
Thus, the Ass’s tragedy is not that he wanted to be loved, but that he forgot who he was and where he stood—an error in both identity and strategy.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/know-thyself-first-context-56-ass-lapdog-essential-zegarelli-esq-/
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