The Price for Deception; Or, What Goes Around. - No. 98. The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - The Essential Aesop™ - Back to Basics Abridgment Series

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

A Wolf decided to disguise himself so that he might enter upon the Sheep without detection. So, he clothed himself in a sheepskin, and slipped in among the Sheep.

The Wolf deceived the Shepherd and was penned in for the night with the Sheep. But, alas, the Shepherd, requiring mutton for his table, laid hands on the Wolf in mistake for a Sheep!

Seeing the ruse, the Shepherd killed the Wolf with his knife on the spot.

Moral of the Story: The trickster takes the risk of the consequence. What goes around, comes around. Vigilance to see beyond what seems to be. “Vice has an accrued cost; always to be owed, often to be collected.”* Virtue does its job.

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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue

Why We Loved It: The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing is one of the most famous of all the Aesop’s Fables. So much so, that saying that something is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing“ is part of the core vernacular of many cultures, meaning that something appears to be friendly, but has latent danger.

For example, “That new law curtailing flag-burning is a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ It purports to protect a public interest, but it actually whittles away at individual freedoms.“

However, this is a complex fable, with a few corollary teachings. As is often the case with the Fables, the teaching provides different perspectives from the view of the different characters.

Accordingly, we have the perspectives of Sheep, the Shepherd and the Wolf.

The Sheep are prey, often considered metaphorically weak, simple and vulnerable, relying upon the Shepherd for their protection. Here, the Sheep are placed at a specifically new risk, but not necessarily a generally different risk.

The Shepherd protects the Sheep, but not from his purely altruistic perspective; indeed, as to these Sheep, the Shepherd is as much a predator as the Wolf, distinguished only in time and method. We tend to place an evil morality onto the Wolf, but, from these Sheep’s perspective, whether Man or Wolf, it is ultimately immaterial in effect—both Man and Wolf love mutton.

Of course, this reminds us that the Wolf might have argued to the Shepherd, “What? Me? I’m a bad guy?” using the Lion’s argument in The Wolf and the Lion.

From the Shepherd’s perspective, he lacked the virtue of vigilance to see through the superficiality of the ruse, and, in the end, he got lucky. He went to the stable to get his meal, and he simply pulled a good card, being the Wolf.

As much as the fable has become known to mean that we should be vigilant for friendly-looking dangers, the ending does not really follow alone as such. We are careful to note that the opposite ending would have that same “moral.” If the Wolf devoured the Sheep in the end, the teaching would still stand for the risk of a negative consequence for the Shepherd’s foolish lack of the virtue of astute vigilance to protect those under his care from feigns. But, here, only by luck, this time, the Shepherd escapes his cost and keeps the mutton for himself.

As to the Wolf, yes, he received his comeuppance for his deception, which provides one teaching. The Wolf’s plan relied upon the vice of the Shepherd, and it almost worked, but for bad luck. Lo and behold, the Shepherd was hungry for mutton at the same time as the Wolf. The Wolf perhaps received his just deserts, but it was not by the virtue of the Shepherd.

This time, the Shepherd was lucky, and, this time, the Wolf was unlucky. This time, the Wolf got caught in his own trap.

In the end, the real lesson is for the Shepherd to do his job to protect his own interest, because the Wolf will tend to be like wolves. A Shepherd who forgets the Wolf’s tendencies is not a very good Shepherd—like a ship forgetting the nature of water.

Wisdom and vigilance must necessarily contemplate the environment of their purpose.

A Shepherd who relies upon luck is not a very good Shepherd. Sloth and vice will tend to come for collection, sooner or later. Thus, that adage, “Vitium habet pretium; semper debitis, saepe solvendis.“ (“Vice has an accrued cost; always to be owed, often to be collected.”)

On this day, luck prevailed. Luck always has its role, but relying upon luck is bad life strategy, “Fortuna est malum consilium ad vitam.“ (“Luck is bad life strategy.”)

Thusly, the Shepherd is responsible to protect his own self interest, and he failed to do so, but he was lucky. The Wolf took a shot with his ruse, and it almost worked, but he was unlucky.

Getting lucky in the end does not make it wise in the beginning for the Shepherd, any more than getting unlucky in the end does not make it unwise in the beginning for the Wolf. And the Sheep? Perhaps a MacGuffin by mutton.

“The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.” ~ J. Edgar Hoover

“Fortuna est malum consilium ad vitam.“ (“Luck is bad life strategy.”); “Vitium habet pretium; semper debitis, saepe solvendis.“ (“Vice has an accrued cost; always to be owed, often to be collected.”); “Questus faustus in fine non facit sapien- tem in principio, si plus facit infaustum in fine, non facit insipientem in principio.” (“Getting lucky in the end does not make it wise in the beginning, any more than getting unlucky in the end does not make it unwise in the beginning.”) ~ grz

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Deep-Dive Analysis

GRZ98_98 — The Price for Deception; Or, What Goes Around — No. 98 — The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

🧭 ETHOS — What This Article Teaches about Zegarelli’s Worldview

This is a masterclass article in AIS applied to deception, vigilance, and the role of luck versus wisdom — and it fits the emerging motif in this round of publications where:
→ the antagonist knows the fables and tries to weaponize them, forcing deeper discernment.

Core Zegarelli Ethos Reflected Here:

1️⃣ Vice is a Deferred Debt

“Vice has an accrued cost; always to be owed, often to be collected.”
→ Zegarelli’s civilizational warning: injustice, deception, and foolish shortcuts will eventually seek their payment — individually and collectively.
This is a core through-line from:

2️⃣ Luck ≠ Wisdom

“Luck is bad life strategy.”
→ Central in this fable — the Shepherd did not win because of wisdom, but by accident.
This perfectly reinforces Zegarelli’s attack on modern overreliance on probabilistic success (in business, politics, personal life).

3️⃣ Human Nature Doesn’t Change by Disguise

“A Shepherd who forgets the Wolf’s tendencies is not a very good Shepherd.”
→ In line with GRZ60 Woodsman and the Serpent, GRZ50 Duty of Trust, GRZ98_36 Wolf and the Sheep:
→ AIS teaches leadership to govern based on predictive tendencies of human nature — not wishful naiveté.

If someone is a wolf, they will tend to act as a wolf.

4️⃣ False Appearances and Rhetoric Can Be Used by Any Side
In this publication round:
→ Antagonists start to quote Aesop “against” the protagonist or Shepherd!
→ This forces higher-order AIS thinking:
Is the principle being quoted truthfully applied to this context — or sophistically?
Here, the Wolf could well argue: “Hey, Shepherd, you eat sheep too — am I any worse?”
→ A prime example of Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Disinformation category teaching.

5️⃣ Vigilance Is an Active Duty

“Wisdom and vigilance must necessarily contemplate the environment of their purpose.”
→ Zegarelli consistently teaches:
→ Leadership = duty of active discernment, not reactive luck.
→ Failure to actively assess will sooner or later invite cost.

📚 PEDAGOGY — How This Article Trains the Reader

1️⃣ Perspective Framing
Zegarelli walks the reader through all three views:

Sheep
Shepherd
Wolf
→ This teaches flexible mental framing — the ability to see a scenario through multiple stakeholders — a crucial leadership skill.

2️⃣ Distinguishing Outcome from Process
→ Getting lucky is not proof of wisdom.
→ The Shepherd’s accidental survival does not absolve his prior failure of vigilance.
→ This trains readers in process-oriented judgment — core to AIS and sound leadership.

3️⃣ Detection of Sophistic Rhetoric
→ Antagonists can quote principles falsely.
→ The leader must discern when the principle fits — and when it is being abused.
→ This is why Zegarelli’s later AIS round focuses so heavily on doctrine misuse (e.g. GRZ98_60 hope as accomplice, GRZ98_34 hypocrisy, Stand for America series).

4️⃣ Luck as False Confidence Builder
→ Many leaders mislearn from luck (illusory cause/effect).
→ This article inoculates readers: do not interpret a good outcome as validation of a flawed method.

🔍 AIS CATEGORY FIT

AIS Category	Fit in GRZ98_98?	Notes
Character & Identity	Yes	Vigilance and wisdom reflect leader identity. Is the Shepherd a “good” leader?
Civic & Leadership Discernment	Yes	The duty of protective leadership — not just for Shepherds, but for any leader tasked with stewarding others.
Cognitive Awareness & Bias	Very Strong	Bias: Outcome-driven reasoning. Mistaking a lucky outcome for sound leadership.
Moral & Ethical Reasoning	Strong	The Wolf’s rhetorical defense forces a moral reflection — do we judge by outcome or by nature?
Pattern Recognition & Predictive Thinking	Strong	Wolf’s nature remains predictive — disguise is irrelevant to pattern of behavior.
Rhetoric, Persuasion, & Disinformation	Very Strong	Wolf’s potential to quote Aesop sophistically forces the leader to apply proper discernment.
Virtue Philosophy & Emotional Discipline	Yes	The duty of disciplined vigilance; resisting complacency.
Wisdom vs. Intelligence	Very Strong	Core teaching: intelligence would be proud of the outcome; wisdom sees the method was deficient. Luck ≠ wisdom.

🎓 CONCLUSION — WHY THIS IS A KEY AIS TEACHING PIECE

Zegarelli’s evolved ethos shows here:

→ Leadership is not about intentions (Shepherd is a predator too).
→ Leadership is not about luck (Shepherd got lucky this time).
→ Leadership is about:
✅ Vigilance
✅ Predictive judgment
✅ Resisting rhetorical traps
✅ Disciplined, wisdom-based action.

Final Thought:
This round of Zegarelli’s publications is teaching a more adversarial, higher-order wisdom:

It’s not enough to know Aesop.
Leaders must discern when others are quoting it falsely — or applying principles self-servingly.
→ AIS is becoming a “defense against rhetorical misuse” training, not just moral wisdom training.

20250601.4o

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Gregg Zegarelli

The Price for Deception; Or, What Goes Around. – No. 98. The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series

ChatGPT Review

Deep-Dive Analysis

🧭 ETHOS — What This Article Teaches about Zegarelli’s Worldview

Core Zegarelli Ethos Reflected Here:

📚 PEDAGOGY — How This Article Trains the Reader

🔍 AIS CATEGORY FIT

🎓 CONCLUSION — WHY THIS IS A KEY AIS TEACHING PIECE

Zegarelli’s evolved ethos shows here: