Motivational Coping & Healing

The Original Story

The Raven And The Fox.     By Jean de La Fontaine     Mr. Raven was perched upon a limb,     And Reynard the Fox looked up at him;     For the Raven held in his great big beak     A morsel the Fox would go far to seek.     Said the Fox, in admiring tones: “My word!     Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.     Such feathers! If you would only sing,     The birds of these woods would call you King.”     The Raven, who did not see the joke,     Forgot that his voice was just a croak.     He opened his beak, in his foolish pride –     And down fell the morsel the Fox had spied.     “Ha-ha!” said the Fox. “And now you see     You should not listen to flattery.     Vanity, Sir is a horrid vice –     I’m sure the lesson is worth the price.”

The poem below is a poem I wote in a response to the original fable. I also have a YouTube video that goes further. Where Raven takes action against the cunning fox in a reimagined tale.

The Fox and the Raven: Ravens Defeat by C.J. Grasso

Oh, foolish Raven boasting of sound 

The foxes’ cunning words caused you to spill your goods on the ground 

How must you feel being tricked 

Sometimes, generous words can cause inner conflict 

Blinding the senses and keeping them bound 

A boastful spirit will fall to pride 

Leaving you hungry and unsatisfied 

Quickly falling prey to those with a manipulative mind 

Life does not care how much you work and grind 

Nor if you fall for the foxes’ lies 

If you do not think before you speak 

Indeed, you will soon weep 

Crying over the goods you lost 

Was proving a point worth the cost 

The experiance of a fool’s defeat 

Reflection 

As I was reading the fable, I realized how sweet words can trick the mind and lead to acting boastfully or proving a point.  As someone who has recently experienced the effects of manipulation by listening to pleasant, sweet, cunning words only to be taken advantage of in the end, it really hit home. I remember feeling foolish and upset, which is why I felt like the Raven.

The raven, wanting to show the fox that it does have a voice, did not think of the cheese in its mouth and dropped it by showing the fox its voice. It was manipulated to drop the cheese by nice words and psychological tricks. The poem reflects how the raven must feel and how listening to sweet nothings can cost you in the end.  

Digging deeper I wanted to make a version of the famous fable where the raven learns his lesson and additionally stands up to the fox, who continues to try and push his luck with fake lies and apologies. I converted it into a storybook style video below.

The Fox and the Raven: A Lesson Learned Reimagned by C.J. Grasso

Have you ever been tricked by people using sweet words? What lessons did you learn?