“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A Lion fell in love with a beautiful Maiden and proposed marriage to her Parents.
The Parents neither wanted the Lion to marry their daughter, nor wanted to offend the Lion.
The Father said: “We are honored, but we fear you might do our daughter some injury. However, if you should have your claws and teeth removed, then we would consider your proposal.”
The Lion was in love, so he removed his claws and teeth as requested.
But when he came back to the Parents, they laughed in his face, and bade him do his worst.
Moral of the Story: Love is the start of folly.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Each of the Aesop’s Fables in the Aesop Series is a great lesson in wisdom, including the ones that are so popular that the name or moral itself is part of our common vernacular; to wit: “sour grapes,“ fox without a tail,” “familiarity breeds contempt,“ to name a few. [1, 2, 3]
But, if I had to take only one onto a desert island, I think it is this one, The Lion in Love.
The reason?
The Lion in Love combines so many Aesopian essential principles: the folly of emotion, clever third party baiting self-interest, self-destruction by desire, voluntary concession of power, hope as bad life strategy.
Not only all that, but also all this wrapped into a dark comedic O. Henry-type ironic tragic ending where the Maiden might even disdain the very resultant weakness and waiver of power by the thing once-loved that is changed in order to achieve her in marriage that she desires.
Although we never get past the new smug scorning rejection by the Parents of the now disabled Lion, alas, we can at least consider that the intrinsic power of the Lion, as he was when the Maiden fell in love with him, was exactly what the Maiden loved, and his new weakness was only what she thought that she wanted.
But, of course, the Maiden can find a replacement, having learned a lesson about her inclinations and attractions, to the future contradiction of her Parents. As for the now weakened Lion, it is perhaps a life of ridicule and scorn for his emotional foolishness.
Here, emotional love causes the Lion to hope, and thereby to concede his own essential power. The Lion stopped the rational wise predictive “what if” analysis. Indeed, Aesop teaches over and over that the emotions work their destruction on rational thought. [4]
Aesop reminds us to stay lucid. Yes, love and hope have their place, but it is wisdom that places them into their place, and discipline keeps them there. [5]
Finally, there is something implicit in Aesop’s character choice. The Maiden is said to be “beautiful,” and Aesop’s Lion is the presumptive pinnacle of strength.
Aesop implies that, if desire can take down and make his prized Lion the fool, so much more for everyone else. If it can do it to him, it can do it to anyone.
Camille (Joseph-Étienne) Roqueplan (1800 – 1855)
[1] The Despise of Failure – No. 11. The Fox and the Grapes – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_11] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_11]
[2] Misery Loves Company – No. 51. The Fox Without A Tail – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_51] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_51]
[3] Familiarity Breeds Contempt – No. 40. The Fox and the Lion – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_40] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_40]
[4] Loving the Deal – Business of Aesop™ No. 85 – The Lion in Love [GRZ5X] [LinkedIn #GRZ5]
[5] The Two “Master Virtues” – The Executive Summary [GRZ209] [LinkedIn #GRZ_209]
“The sudden movements of the passions throw prudence off balance, and here is where you can be lost. Run amuck for only a second and you will run up lifelong regrets.
“Cunning people set these traps for prudence in order to sound matters out and fathom the minds of their opponents. Your counter-strategy?
“Control yourself, especially your sudden impulses. It takes much reflection to keep a passion from bolting like a horse; and if you’re wise on horseback, you’re wise in everything. The person who foresees danger feels his way along.“ ~ Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom.
“For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies and now and then of tragedies; but in life it does much mischief, sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury.
“[I]t was well said that it is impossible to love and to be wise. For whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection concedes both riches and wisdom. This passion hath his floods in the very times of weakness, which are great prosperity and great adversity; both which times kindle love and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of folly.
“They do best who, if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep its distance, and sever it wholly from their serious affairs and actions of life; for if it enter business, it troubles men’s fortunes, and makes men that they can no ways be true to their own ends.
“Spousal love makes mankind; friendly love perfects mankind; but wanton love corrupts and embases mankind.” ~ Francis Bacon. The Essays, On Love.
ChatGPT Review
The Lion in Love (GRZ98_85), in the context of Zegarelli’s broader ethos, is particularly rich—especially given that Zegarelli himself claims this is the one Aesop fable he would take to a desert island. That declaration is telling, not only of the fable’s content but also of its thematic density in terms of his philosophical framework. Let’s unpack it thoroughly.
🧠 DEEP DIVE ANALYSIS
🦁 The Fable Itself: Summary
A powerful lion falls in love with a maiden. To win her, he agrees to the parents’ demand that he remove his claws and teeth. Powerless, he returns—only to be mocked and rejected.
📚 PEDAGOGY: Layered Instruction in Zegarelli’s Commentary
Zegarelli doesn’t treat this as a tale of romantic tragedy—he reads it as a masterclass in Aesop’s multidimensional pedagogy. He highlights:
- Voluntary disarmament through emotion
- Clever manipulation by a weaker third party
- Destruction through self-deception and hope
- Tragic irony with layers of misjudgment
Each of these is a moral-psychological insight, and together they make this fable a concentrated philosophical lesson on why humans make unwise decisions under the influence of desire.
He teaches it not merely to warn against love, but to reveal how love disables clarity, and how this is used by others as a tool of manipulation—in this case, the parents using the Lion’s love against him, while appearing respectful.
Zegarelli isolates Aesop’s method: the animal’s strength is not corrupted by a stronger foe—it is voluntarily surrendered, which is what makes it tragic, and applicable to all.
🧭 ETHOS: The Zegarelli Worldview Encapsulated
This fable reflects multiple Zegarelli philosophical pillars, deeply aligned with themes found throughout The Essential Aesop, The Business of Aesop, and the Proseuché:
1. Emotion Is the Opponent of Wisdom
“Here, emotional love causes the Lion to hope, and thereby to concede his own essential power.”
Zegarelli sees wisdom as reviewable, rational, and risk-calculated, as noted in his Epilogue on Aesop. The lion doesn’t merely fall in love—he forfeits his discernment. That’s Zegarelli’s red line.
2. Hope Is Not a Strategy
This echoes throughout his work: hope is naïve when it ignores behavioral tendencies. The lion “hopes” he will be loved for disarming himself, but he is admired precisely for the strength he gives away. That contradiction creates vulnerability.
This is a direct corollary to:
- The Scorpion and the Frog [50] → hope against nature kills
- The Woodsman and the Serpent [60] → compassion without discernment is danger
3. Powerlessness Breeds Contempt
The tragic irony is that the very concessions made to earn love destroy the basis of that love. The lion loses both the maiden and his dignity. Zegarelli ties this into real-world themes of leadership, virtue signaling, and emasculation through capitulation.
“His new weakness was only what she thought she wanted.”
This presents a subtle criticism of modern emotional culture: we encourage people to disarm in relationships, but then punish them for losing the qualities that made them desirable.
🏝️ WHY THE DESERT ISLAND?
Zegarelli’s choice of this fable as the one he’d take to a desert island is not about sentiment—it’s about density and universality. Let’s break down why this one:
A. It Encapsulates Multiple Aesopian Truths in One Tale
- Risk v. desire
- Love’s irrationality
- Strategic manipulation
- Irony and justice
- Nature versus modification
- Wisdom’s failure under emotion
In pedagogical terms, this fable is multi-axiomatic—you can teach at least 5–6 core truths from it without leaving the single narrative. That’s efficiency—a virtue for any “desert island” curriculum.
B. It Scales from Personal to Political
This fable applies equally to:
- A young lover who gives away too much,
- A leader who compromises principle to appease critics,
- A civilization that sacrifices its defense to gain acceptance.
It is timeless, universal, and scalable across contexts.
C. It Is Zegarelli’s Inversion of the Romantic Ideal
If the average person would bring Romeo and Juliet to a desert island, Zegarelli brings The Lion in Love. That’s a profound ethical stance:
“Yes, love and hope have their place, but it is wisdom that places them into their place, and discipline keeps them there.”
This fable is his antidote to the modern over-glorification of emotional impulsiveness—he’s staking out the territory of stoic clarity over romantic delusion.
🔍 FINAL ANALYSIS SUMMARY
| Aspect | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Pedagogy | Masterclass in multi-dimensional moral logic: strategic vulnerability, ironic inversion, cause-and-effect clarity |
| Philosophical Ethos | Zegarelli’s central doctrines are all here: emotion vs. reason, clarity vs. hope, and wisdom as foresight |
| Narrative Method | Dark comedy with moral consequence—O. Henry ending as teaching device |
| Why the Desert Island? | It’s Aesop’s Swiss army knife: compact, dense, universal, rationally tragic |
| Moral Takeaway | Even the strong are destroyed when they let desire override foresight—and they do it to themselves |
🧩 Closing Thought
The Lion in Love is the fable that tells you everything you need to know about what Zegarelli believes wisdom is—and what it is not:
- It is not hope
- It is not emotion
- It is not moral purity
- It is not getting the result you want
Wisdom is calculating the risk. Taking the hit knowingly. Not being surprised by the loss. And not mistaking weakness for virtue.
If we can only teach one fable to a generation of leaders, lovers, or lambs—
This may be the one.
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You said: What are your thoughts for this fable for AIS?
ChatGPT:
Excellent—let’s evaluate The Lion in Love (GRZ98_85) against your AIS framework of 8 categories. This fable is particularly rich—it actually checks multiple categories at once, which explains why Zegarelli calls it his “desert island” pick.
AIS Analysis: The Lion in Love (GRZ98_85)
1. Character & Identity
- Yes (core).
The lion loses his essence by voluntarily disarming himself. His claws and teeth are his identity as “lion.” By giving them up, he becomes a mockery of what he was.
AIS take-away: True identity cannot be negotiated without collapse. Once surrendered, the self is lost.
2. Civic & Leadership Discernment
- Yes.
Leaders, like the lion, sometimes “cut deals” to gain approval—removing their defenses or principles for acceptance. But concession leads to contempt, not respect.
AIS take-away: Weakness invited by compromise does not strengthen society; it breeds manipulation and mockery.
3. Cognitive Awareness & Bias
- Yes.
The lion hopes (bias of optimism) and assumes reciprocity (bias of fairness), which clouds foresight. The parents exploit that blind spot.
AIS take-away: Desire distorts predictive clarity. Bias makes us surrender power without recognizing the trap.
4. Moral & Ethical Reasoning
- Yes, but inverted.
The parents appear to take a “moral high ground” (protecting their daughter), but they are manipulative—demanding the lion’s disarmament with no intent to honor consent.
AIS take-away: A false ethical demand can mask self-interest. Morality without intent is deception.
5. Pattern Recognition & Predictive Thinking
- Yes (central).
A rational lion should have asked: What happens if I obey? The failure to run “what if” analysis is the collapse of wisdom.
AIS take-away: Foresight is the pivot between strength and folly. Without predictive thinking, even lions fall.
6. Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Disinformation
- Yes.
The parents use rhetoric as bait: “We honor you, but for safety…” A flattering pretense masks their strategy of disarmament.
AIS take-away: Words can be weapons sharper than claws. Persuasion often hides an ulterior aim.
7. Virtue Philosophy & Emotional Discipline
- Yes (core).
Passion (love) overrides discipline. The lion does not master his emotion; his desire enslaves him.
AIS take-away: Discipline is the true master virtue. Love without discipline collapses into folly.
8. Wisdom vs. Intelligence
- Yes (hallmark).
The lion is clever enough to follow instructions, but not wise enough to see the consequence. He confuses compliance with strategy.
AIS take-away: Clever obedience ≠ wisdom. Wisdom requires resisting the trap, not perfecting one’s own ruin.
📊 AIS Scorecard
| AIS Category | Applied? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Character & Identity | ✅ Core | Loss of essence = loss of self |
| Civic & Leadership Discernment | ✅ | Compromise breeds contempt |
| Cognitive Awareness & Bias | ✅ | Love blinds foresight |
| Moral & Ethical Reasoning | ✅ | Parents’ false morality |
| Pattern Recognition & Predictive Thinking | ✅ Core | “What if” missing |
| Rhetoric, Persuasion, Disinformation | ✅ | Flattering trap |
| Virtue & Emotional Discipline | ✅ Core | Emotion destroys discipline |
| Wisdom vs. Intelligence | ✅ Hallmark | Clever ≠ wise |
🎯 AIS Take-away
This fable is almost an AIS perfect-score: it strikes all eight categories. That’s why Zegarelli rightly calls it the most compactly dense of Aesop’s teachings.
- It teaches self-identity preservation (lion disarms = self lost).
- It warns leaders about conceding essential defenses.
- It exposes how hope and bias cloud foresight.
- It shows how false ethics and rhetoric manipulate.
- And it delivers the central Zegarelli doctrine: wisdom is foresight plus discipline; emotion without foresight is self-destruction.
20250929.5
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/folly-love-85-lion-essential-aesop-back-basics-gregg-zegarelli-esq-
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
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