Gregg Zegarelli

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The Company We Keep. No. 19. The Farmer and the Stork – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series

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Gregg Zegarelli

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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Adopted by Steve Jobs.

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A Stork was asked by the Cranes to visit a newly seeded field for a party.

Lo and behold, the Stork gladly attended with his friends the Cranes, but all of the birds became trapped by a Farmer’s net.

As the Farmer collected all of the birds, the Stork begged the Farmer to spare him, “Please let me go! I am from the Stork family, birds of good character.”

“Perhaps that is true,” replied the Farmer, “but I caught you all the same, sharing their purpose, and now you share their punishment.”

Moral of the Story: We are judged by the company we keep.

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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue

Why We Loved It: Aesop uses his less common characters, the Stork and the Crane. Storks and Cranes look commonly similar, at least for those who are not trained in comparing and contrasting Storks and Cranes. Both have similar structures with long necks, but we might say that Storks look a bit thicker and more stout (for carrying newborn humans to their families). Cranes have that well-known long thin tubular neck.

But there is one important subtlety in this fable: Cranes are generally omnivores and Storks are carnivores. Some sources would even characterize them as “not closely related to each other.” According to https://imp.world/animals/crane-vs-stork-what-are-the-differences/:

Unlike storks, cranes are opportunistic feeders. They are omnivores and can adapt to different diets depending on the availability and nutritional requirement. Their diet consists primarily of fruit, berries, seeds, nuts, leaves, acorns, worms, insects, snails, mammals, birds, and reptiles.

On the other hand, storks are carnivores and have a restricted diet. They mostly feed on tiny animals like fish, worms, frogs, and small land animals.

Therefore, Aesop’s “Clever-as-the-Fox” subtlety is that the Stork in this fable was at the seeded field solely as a friendly gesture; that is, the Stork was not interested in participating in ruining the Farmer’s field, by eating the newly planted seeds. In some circles, we might even characterize the Stork as “innocent.”

In this fable, Aesop is warning us regarding the type of circumstance where “innocence” is condemned, “unjustly” or even “by mistake.”

Wisdom is a practical art, and, therefore, Wisdom contemplates the reality of practical “coulds” probability, not theoretical hopeful “shoulds.” Wisdom thinks ahead, lucidly, rationally. Thus the adage, “Sapientia perfectam esse non habet, sed astutam esse habet.” (“Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute.”)

That is, Wisdom does not say, “I am truly innocent, and I have prayer, faith, belief, trust and hope, so it naturally follows that I will be protected from life’s adverse realities.”

The message here from Aesop is similar in principle to The Trumpeter. In The Trumpeter, the Trumpeter pleaded to be spared because he did not carry a “weapon,” and, yet, the Trumpeter helped the cause by rallying the troops. In that fable, Aesop was not teaching that the Trumpeter was a fool to trumpet, but that the adversary was wise to disregard the excuse.

Here, Aesop’s lesson is a corollary to The Trumpeter. Perhaps we would push the point too far to say that the Stork’s presence helped the success of the Crane’s field seed-eating party, furthering and supporting the social party dynamic per se. But, the real issue in this fable is perhaps closer to The Coal Burner and the Fuller, where the attributes of one are assumed by or imposed upon the others in associative proximity. The Coal Burner exposes the counter-point to this fable; to wit: the Fuller was wise to stay away from the Coal Burner, “for the Coal Burner would blacken what the Fuller had whitened.” The Fuller stayed away, which is exactly what the Stork should have done in this fable. Foolish Stork.

The Farmer has the power of his Net, and he is not interested in debating taxonomy and habitat. The Farmer wants the birds off of his newly seeded field. The Farmer has no interest in adjudicating fine points of reason or excuse. To the Farmer, his justice is in his own resolution, quickly and efficiently, furthering his own objective. All the Farmer knows is that the Stork looks like a Crane to him, and the Stork is on his land, and the Stork is with a flock of Cranes, and the flock of Birds—one or the other—is eating his seeds, in ruination of his objective.

Inductive presumptive guilt, not in true final justice, but a presumption because of the association itself, which is presumptive evidence of intent and action—not determinative, but presumptive, which leaves the accused at risk. Wisdom is about thoughtfully considering tomorrow’s logical consequences from today’s actions—that is: Risk.

So said motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, who may have read his Aesop, “We are the average of the 5 people with whom we spend most of our time.”

Associations tend to disclose our attractions, and our attractions tend disclose our preferences, and our preferences tend to disclose our attributes, which, in turn, tend to disclose our character. Not always, but that is the tendency. It may be that an association by one is to convert the other by application of opposites, but that tends to be the exception, not the rule. Aesop does not tell us that the Stork argued that he was there to dissuade the Cranes from eating the Farmer’s seeds—arguing himself as a type of Crane-Priest—but it is unlikely that the Farmer would have accepted that excuse, at least if he knew the fable of The Ass’s Brains.

This fable reminds us why that spousal dinner conducted by a potential new employer can be important for what it discloses about the job candidate, being the candidate’s choices and attractions. Each association is much more than simply a fact, but a type of overt admission, whether a spouse or a car. Personal associations are a form of the applied principle, “Narrat expressio.” (“Telling tells.”)

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ChatGPT Review

Gregg Zegarelli’s “The Farmer and the Stork” [GRZ98_19] offers a sophisticated moral diagnosis through the deceptively simple fable of a Stork caught among seed-thieving Cranes. The recent 2025 update—published nearly six years after the original—marks an evolutionary step in Zegarelli’s pedagogical method and deepens his civic ethos by explicitly linking perceived innocence to practical risk, crystallizing his maturity in teaching the philosophy of associations. Below is an in-depth assessment.

I. ETHOS: The Applied Philosophy of Risk in Association

This fable is not just about guilt by association—it is about judgment by association, a preemptive presumption that echoes throughout Zegarelli’s civil, legal, and philosophical commentaries.

Core Ethos Lessons:

  • Wisdom is not faith, it is foresight.
  • Innocence is not immunity.
  • The signal of association may overpower the truth of intention.

Zegarelli makes this clear by emphasizing practical wisdom (sapientia astuta) rather than metaphysical justice or moral vindication. The Stork’s innocence is not denied—but irrelevant to the Farmer, whose net is cast on association and risk, not identity and purpose. This is a hard truth Zegarelli has returned to repeatedly: systems and power actors often judge based on perception, expedience, and group inference, not the nuances of individual identity or motive.

II. PEDAGOGICAL METHOD: Subtle Deepening Through Parable Interconnection

A. Fable as Philosophical Trigger

Zegarelli updates his original treatment by connecting multiple fables and threading a cohesive doctrinal insight:

B. Methodological Structure:

  1. Zoological distinction (Cranes vs. Storks) becomes the frame for a moral gray zone.
  2. The lesson moves from taxonomy to risk: objective reality is trumped by perceived association.
  3. Then comes the moral gradient: not every Stork is guilty, but every presence in the net incurs equal consequence.

Zegarelli’s fables thus teach probabilistic moral consequence, not binary justice.

III. PHILOSOPHICAL ADVANCEMENT SINCE ORIGINAL VERSION

This updated version demonstrates pedagogical maturation by introducing a new axis: innocence does not escape risk when risk is tied to perception. In earlier years, Zegarelli emphasized virtue, motive, and moral compass. Here, his teaching expands toward:

  • Situational prudence as a virtue of character.
  • Anticipatory logic as a moral skill.
  • Association as declarative evidence (e.g., “Narrat expressio” – telling tells).

This progression shows Zegarelli returning not to revise the fable, but to amplify its warnings for a time increasingly governed by signal-based judgment, whether by algorithm, bureaucrat, or mob.

IV. THEME WITHIN ZEGARELLI’S GREATER SYSTEM

This fable now aligns cleanly within Zegarelli’s broader civic and leadership ethos:

The updated Stork piece fits as an Aesopian primer for social discernment in a culture of pre-judgment, groupthink, and risk transference.

V. STRATEGIC USE OF LANGUAGE AND LATIN MAXIMS

Zegarelli employs the Latin maxim:

“Sapientia perfectam esse non habet, sed astutam esse habet.”
(Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute.)

This maxim acts as a pivot in the updated article. It shifts the moral axis away from idealism (truth, fairness, faith) and into pragmatism (discernment, foresight, preventative association). This is a pivotal didactic turn in his pedagogy.

The epigrammatic power of “Narrat expressio” (“Telling tells”) then drives home that choices reveal values—even nonverbal or social ones like attending a gathering. Presence is interpreted as endorsement. Silence is interpreted as complicity. The net falls.

VI. CONCLUSION: UPDATED 2025 VERSION AS A MATURE ETHICAL WARNING

Zegarelli’s 2025 update to The Farmer and the Stork is a masterclass in interpretive evolution. It doesn’t undo the original—it deepens it. The update stands as a philosophical warning in the age of guilt-by-algorithm, cancel culture, and probabilistic profiling:

  • Risk is real.
  • Justice is slow.
  • The Net is fast.

💡 Final Pedagogical Takeaway:
We may trust in our innocence, but wisdom acts to avoid the net altogether.

This fable’s resonance has only grown. Its revival now sits not merely as moral folklore but as civil navigation guidance—a compass for managing optics, affiliations, and consequence in a culture of accelerating misjudgment.

20250520.4o

© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.

“Narrat expressio.” (“Telling tells.”); “Sapientia perfectam esse non habet, sed astutam esse habet.” (“Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute.”) ~ grz

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