“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
The Lion and the Fox went hunting together. They came upon an Ass that they killed for a feast.
But, the Lion desired to have a nap first, and to take the feast after resting. “Here is our dinner,” the Lion said to the Fox, “Watch it while I go and have a nap. And, woe to you if you touch it!”
In the absence of the Lion, and after staring at the meal to come, the Fox could not withstand the temptation. Finally, he succumbed and ate the brains of the Ass.
When the Lion came back, he roared, “But, where are his brains?”
The Fox replied, “For certain, your Majesty, this Ass had no brains or he would not have fallen into your trap.”
Moral of the Story: Wit has always an answer ready.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop’s lesson here can be taken two ways: to recognize the wit of an excuse from others, and to have the wit of an excuse to others; that is, to play it both ways.
Wit is often a form a rhetoric, as it negotiates an issue from attention by wrapping it in a sort of clever happiness. Wit beguiles. No one is immune from the tactic. And, here, Aesop uses his majestic Lion matched against the beguiling Fox, and the Fox appears to win.
Aesop chooses his cast of characters very carefully. Aesop chooses the Ass as the subject of the missing brains, which allows the clever Fox to have plausible deniability, diffused by an implied compliment to the usually majestic Lion’s choice of the trap.
The Fox moves the Lion’s attention away from the Fox as culprit, by pointing the Lion back to somewhere the Lion wants to go: the Lion’s need for validation in the choice of trap, a trick similar to the one the Fox used before with Mistress Crow. This is coupled with the Ass’s plausible failure of having brains—after all, Ass’s are not commonly known as intelligent.
Thusly, the Fox attacks two weak spots: the Lion’s own need for validation, and the plausible fact of missing brains. Clever Fox. Vanity matched with a plausible excuse by flattery, creating an easy path for desire to flow by happy misdirection.
We understand the technique only works on the fooled, but Aesop’s use of the otherwise Majestic Lion as the beguiled fooled subject tells us that, if it can happy to his Majestic Lion, it can happen to the best of us.
“Great wits are sure to madness near allied/And thin partitions do their bounds divide.” ~ John Dryden
“Impropriety is the soul of wit.” ~ Somerset Maugham
“Wit is cultured insolence.” ~ Aristotle
“The man who sees the consistency in things is a wit; the man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
“Wit lies in the likeness of things that are different, and in the difference of things that are alike.” ~ Madame de Staël (1766–1817)
“There’s no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature.” ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
“Surround yourself with auxiliary wits. Things turn out well for the powerful when they are surrounded by people of great understanding who can get them out of the tight situations where their ignorance has placed them, and take their place in battling difficulty. It is singular greatness to use wise people. This is a new way of mastering others, in what matters most in life: skillfully make servants of those whom nature made superior. Choose a subject, and let those around you serve up quintessential knowledge. If you can’t make knowledge your servant, make it your friend.” ~ Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
“After wisdom comes wit.” ~ Evan Esar (ed. a play on meaning and words by definitional sequence)
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Here is a deep-dive analysis of Gregg Zegarelli’s “Wit, Clever Excuses and Plausible Deniability – No. 87 – The Ass’s Brains” in The Essential Aesop – Back to Basics Abridgment Series.
🧠 Deep-Dive Analysis
Fable Summary
- Characters: The Lion (authority), the Fox (cunning subordinate), and the Ass (victim/meal).
- Plot: After jointly killing the Ass, the Lion takes a nap, warning the Fox not to touch the body. The Fox, tempted, eats the Ass’s brains. When the Lion returns and questions the missing part, the Fox cleverly claims the Ass must have had no brains or he wouldn’t have fallen into the trap.
- Moral: “Wit has always an answer ready.”
🔍 Pedagogical Method
Zegarelli employs several pedagogical tools here:
1. Character Archetypes with Psychological Functions
- Lion: Symbolizes power, pride, and often blind spots (especially vanity and the presumption of superiority).
- Fox: Represents wit, rhetorical agility, and opportunism.
- Ass: A deliberately chosen placeholder for perceived stupidity or vulnerability, used here to enable plausible deniability.
These archetypes are not just literary—they are pedagogical mechanisms designed to help the reader recognize personality types, especially in leadership and subordination dynamics.
2. Layered Interpretive Duality
Zegarelli notes the dual moral reading:
- (a) How others may deploy wit to deflect blame.
- (b) How one may develop their own wit as a survival tactic.
This duality itself is part of the pedagogical model—forcing the reader to see both how the game is played and how not to be played.
3. Use of Rhetorical Strategy Analysis
The analysis doesn’t stop at the literal action; it unveils the psychological tactic of flattery-based misdirection. Zegarelli points out the brilliance of the Fox’s shift in focus:
- From culpability → to validation of the Lion’s trap.
- From a problem → to a compliment.
This models for the reader how rhetoric can subvert scrutiny when it massages ego.
🌱 Zegarelli’s Ethos Connection
This fable is a strong embodiment of Zegarelli’s recurring ethos across his works:
A. Civic Vigilance Against Rhetorical Seduction
Zegarelli often cautions against being manipulated by linguistic or emotional tactics. Like in his analyses of corporate branding (“Sugar, Darling”, Amazon, Disney), he emphasizes:
“Rhetoric beguiles. No one is immune from the tactic.”
Just as the Lion is misled by flattery, so too can citizens, judges, or leaders be beguiled by pleasant-sounding rationalizations.
B. Virtue of Emotional Discipline
The Fox is clever, but Zegarelli often warns that cleverness divorced from virtue is dangerous sophistication. Wit may help one survive or escape punishment, but it also masks deeper moral failures. This connects to his teachings in “The Proseuché” and “The Master and the Turtle” where he distinguishes wisdom from trickery and cautions against the flattering mind over the reflective mind.
C. Human Nature and Self-Deception
The Lion’s vulnerability is not ignorance—it’s vanity, a recurring human weakness. Zegarelli is consistent in portraying that even the strong fall when their self-concept is exploited.
🎓 Philosophical and Societal Implications
| Theme | Zegarelli’s Commentary |
|---|---|
| Plausible Deniability | Taught here not just as a legal term, but as a rhetorical shield. |
| Intellectual Seduction | Even reason and intellect can be used manipulatively. |
| Ego-Targeted Manipulation | The Fox wins not by logic, but by ego-flattering diversion. |
| Sophist vs. Philosopher | The Fox is a sophist—clever but not wise. The Lion lacks the discernment of a true leader. |
| Power and Accountability | The Lion wields power but lacks wisdom. The Fox lacks power but controls the situation. |
🏁 Conclusion / Take-Away
Pedagogical Conclusion:
Zegarelli warns that the most dangerous manipulations are not overt—they are clever, flattering, and plausibly deniable. Wit may offer survival in the moment, but also clouds truth, accountability, and character.
This fable is pedagogically essential to Zegarelli’s broader teaching strategy: understanding the psychology of influence, the subtlety of rationalization, and the vulnerability of even the strong to rhetorical charm. It challenges readers to:
- Recognize flattery as a manipulative tool,
- See how excuses mask theft under wit,
- Develop vigilance—not just against others’ cleverness, but against their own susceptibility to ego traps.
In short: beware of wit that seduces rather than enlightens. Or in Zegarelli’s broader terms: the disciplined virtue of the vigilant mind must triumph over rhetorical charm.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wit-clever-excuses-plausible-deniability-87-asss-zegarelli-esq-/
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