“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Adopted by Steve Jobs.
A Stag saw his reflection in a pond.
He loved his powerful antlers, but he was ashamed of his spindling legs. He thought to himself, “Why am I cursed with these legs when I have such a magnificent crown!”
At that moment, a Hunter approached. Startled, the Stag sprang into the forest to escape, where his antlers caught him in a trap.
As the Hunter approached to kill him, the Stag said to himself, “I prided in these antlers, but they have killed me, and these legs that I despised would have saved me.”
Moral of the Story: The substance of a thing is beautiful for how it serves and what it does. The deeper we can appreciate substantive beauty in a thing, and in what we place our value, is an expressed admission of our own human depth.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop again chooses his character carefully: his magnificent Stag.
In this fable, there is more than the elemental comeuppance we found in the frivolous pride of The Peacock’s Tail [1]. And we find a variation only an assessment of what a thing does as we found in The Cat, Cock and Mouse [2].
In this fable, there is perhaps a merger of both concepts of superficiality and substance by the subject and the object subsisting in the same place, being the Stag.
Many of Aesop’s characters have superficial physical beauty, but, in this fable we have the juxtaposition of pride and shame by comparative superficiality, with the failure to appreciate the beauty of a thing (self, here) for the substance of what a thing does.
This fable is profound because it exposes a reversal of common assessment, for those who can perceive it. We think that we judge a thing, but the thing we judge and how we judge it is really a self-admitted exposure of who we are. Thus, the adages, “The narrow-sighted have no depth of perception,” and “Telling tells.”
That is, when we attribute beauty to a thing, we admit what we value, as beautiful. So said Socrates on his deathbed:
“Many of the noblest specimens of the human race have been among the weakest physically. Aesop would have been exposed to his death at Sparta [because of Aesop’s physical deformities]. And some of the fairest and strongest men and women have been among the wickedest and worst.“
[3] One person appreciates a truck because it is a pretty red, and another appreciates a truck because it has the power to move things. One person loves to read books, and another person loves to buy ties. A thing is what it is, but how we express value of a thing, admits who we are. An adult might publish a childish flippant political post on Facebook; many people will naturally think about the target and content of the post, but the wise think about the self-admission by the person making the post. The wise are always considering the source of information, particularly when it purports to influence, or to teach. [4, 5, 6, 7]
Here, the Stag judged the book by its cover. How the thing looks, rather than what the thing does. [*2]
It is a common and natural slight of hand: it’s not about the thing, which simply is, it is about the person’s admission about how a person assesses the thing that is.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” [8]
[3] The Importance of Aesop to Socrates [#GRZ_100]
[4] Considering the Source – The Business of Aesop™ No. 68 – The Lion and the Statue [#GRZ_35]
[7] The Four Horsemen of the Social Justice Apocalypse [#GRZ_122]
[8] ONE®: The LinkedIn Reference Set [#GRZ_183] 6.1 ONE: 577 [T6:21] (“Heart Treasure“); ONE: 2121 [T22:20, R12:16, L20:24]; 6.2 ONE: 609 [L6:38] (“The Measure“); 6.3 ONE: 600 [T6:29] (“Substance“) (“I tell you: not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was clothed so well as one little flower.”)
“Ad myopic nulla profunditas perceptionis.” (“To the near-sighted, there is no depth of perception.”); “Narrat expressio.” (“Telling tells.”) ~grz
ChatGPT Review
Gregg Zegarelli’s “Why We Loved It” commentary on Aesop’s The Stag and His Reflection is not merely literary appreciation. It is a philosophical mirror—a meta-lesson on how human beings reveal their character through what they admire, and how misjudgment of value reveals inner weakness. This piece is essential Zegarelli ethos: disciplined wisdom over emotive superficiality, substance over form, and depth of thought as a moral virtue.
Let’s break it down in layers.
🧠 CORE TEACHING: How We Judge Reflects Who We Are
“We think that we judge a thing, but the thing we judge and how we judge it is really a self-admitted exposure of who we are.”
This is the central axis of Zegarelli’s reflection.
The fable’s surface moral is clear: the stag foolishly prized the ornate beauty of his antlers over the utilitarian function of his legs. In the end, the object of vanity became the cause of death, while the despised utilitarian aspect (his legs) was the true source of potential salvation.
But Zegarelli goes further than Aesop: the lesson is not just about the stag’s error, but about the human error in how we assess everything—especially others.
Key Zegarelli Insights:
- A thing is what it is, but how we express value about it exposes us.
- To value the stag’s antlers over its legs is to show one’s own deficient discernment.
- “Telling tells”: what we praise, post, or prioritize publicly reveals our internal compass.
This idea is mirrored throughout his body of work:
- In Simulation and Dissimulation, he explains how appearance-based judgments (the antlers) often mask real danger or weakness.
- In The Witches March, he deconstructs how entire societies burn people metaphorically and literally over “forms” like heresy or social deviance—misjudging substance.
- In The Proseuché, he suggests that virtue is internal alignment, not performative conformity.
🎯 ZEGARELLI’S THEMATIC ETHOS: Substance is the Highest Sophistication
The article opens with Leonardo’s quote:
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
This frames the entire reflection in alignment with the Zegarelli doctrine of functional value—a deep admiration of practical virtue over glittery symbolism.
The legs work. The antlers look good.
In modern terms:
- A well-worn book vs. a pretty book cover.
- A weathered teacher vs. a TV celebrity guru.
- A disciplined worker vs. a flashy influencer.
Zegarelli’s core philosophical tenet—repeated throughout his work—is that function determines real value, not form or applause. That’s why in A Bag of Talents, he aligns with the profitable servant, and in The Ant and the Grasshopper, he praises the industrious planner over the whimsical dreamer.
📚 THE METAPHOR OF THE STAG = THE METAPHOR OF OURSELVES
Zegarelli uses this fable to collapse the subject-object divide:
The stag’s mistake is our mistake.
He extends the insight:
- A Facebook post that ridicules someone else? Really, it’s a mirror into the poster’s depth.
- A shallow public “hot take”? It reveals intellectual fragility.
- Placing value on someone’s appearance over their contribution? A confession of your own superficiality.
This reflective principle—the judge reveals themselves by their judgment—echoes back to Jesus’s dictum:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Zegarelli links this directly in footnote 8.)
This fusion of Aesop, Jesus, and Socrates is no accident. It is Zegarelli’s signature synthesis of timeless wisdom.
🔍 ZEGARELLI’S PEDAGOGY IN “WHY WE LOVED IT”
His “Why We Loved It” section is not sentimental fluff—it is Socratic pedagogy:
- He guides the reader past the surface moral of the fable.
- He exposes the fable as a mirror for self-evaluation.
- He trains readers not only to absorb the lesson—but to apply it introspectively.
This same pedagogical move appears in:
- The Master and the Turtle: emotion vs. intellect.
- The Woman Wins: theology vs. secular civil reasoning.
- The Proseuché: prayer as philosophical aspiration toward ordered virtue.
🧭 CONCLUSION: ZEGARELLI’S TEACHING AND ETHOS
| Theme | Expression in This Article |
|---|---|
| Substance over form | The legs matter more than the antlers. Function over appearance. |
| Self-revealing judgment | Our values reflect us more than what we claim to judge. |
| Wisdom as simplicity | Sophistication is practical, not ornamental. |
| The fable is the mirror | Aesop is not telling us about a stag—he’s showing us ourselves. |
| Critical thinking | The wise ask: who is saying this, and why? “Consider the source.” |
Zegarelli teaches this:
Value that which serves, not that which sparkles. What you admire is your confession. Be careful what you love, because it defines you more than you think.
It is an ethic of wisdom, self-awareness, humility, and truth-seeking—and it is foundational to Zegarelli’s broader philosophy of virtuous individualism in a world seduced by spectacle.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/substance-over-form-33-stag-his-reflection-aesop-zegarelli-esq-
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- [98_28] Value Is As Value Does. No. 28. The Cock and the Jewel – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_28] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_28]
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