Frank's Fables

Frank's Fables is a series of stories that I write, with the intent of teaching lessons that I have learned...most times the hard way. I will post one the second, third, and fourth Sunday of each month.

The Weakling {January 17,2012}

An oak tree valued his strength and strength in others. Thus, the oak tree had a dislike of his neighbor, the pine tree, because he was not as strong as the Oak tree. When the wind blew slightly, his pine needles would easily sail away. And when the wind blew hard, he would easily bend to its will.

Well, one day an exceptional storm came through and blew fierce and powerful winds across the forest. The Oak tree held steadfast and strong against the high winds. Unfortunately the power of the high winds was so strong that it knocked him out. When he woke up, he realized that he was looking up at the sky because he was broken in half by the high winds. His neighbor, the pine tree, was looking over him and asked him was he okay. The Oak tree shocked that the pine tree, was still standing asked the tree. “How is it that you are still standing after that storm?”

The pine tree shrugged his branches and said. “Well when the wind blew, I didn’t fight it. I simply swayed back and forth with the storm until it was over.”

Moral: Sometimes the very thing that you believe is a weakness is actually a source of strength.

January 08, 2012 {The wise old man}

A wise old man was rocking on his porch one day and he noticed a young man walking in front of his house with underwear on his head. For three days the young man would walk by the old man’s house with the under wear on his head. Eventually the old man asked the young man why he was wearing the underwear on his head. The young man just laughed and kept on walking. The old man was appalled at how foolish the youth was and he was determined to find out why he was so foolish. This happened for three more days and eventually the old man came up with a plan. He would disguise himself as a young man and put his underwear on his head. When the boy passed by, he followed the young man down the street. He watched the young man so carefully, that he even walked like the young man. He followed the young man until they came to a little yellow house. The boy walked up to the door and knocked twice. And a little old lady opened the door and let him in. The old man watched as the lady closed the door and ran to the door and knocked twice. The lady answered the door. “Yes?”

“Hello, may I ask a question?” the old man asked.

“Yes.”

“Why is that boy wearing underwear on his head?” the old man asked.

“Underwear? Oh, you mean the moon cap? Oh that is the style at his school. I don’t like it but that’s what all of his friends or wearing.”

The man was angry. On some level he felt cheated because he thought the boy was simply a fool. “Do you realize how foolish he looks with that hat on his head?”

The woman got a little angry herself but kept her composure and said, “Sir, YOU are standing in MY doorway with UNDERWEAR on your head. He may be a fool. But who is a bigger fool? And she slammed the door in his face.

Moral: A wise man that does foolish things is still a fool.

Brutus and Remington December 18, 2011

Brutus, a bulldog, was unhappy with his home. His owner was poor, so Brutus didn’t have much. One day at a park, he noticed a chihuahua playing with a rubber ball. The chihuahua had an expensive collar. Brutus’ collar was made from an old belt that his owner used to wear. He walked up to the little dog and spoke. “Hi, how are you?”

“I am fine,” the chihuahua barked.

“My name is Brutus. What is yours?”

“My name is Remington.”

“Well, Remington I can tell by your collar that you have a rich owner. It must be nice.”

“Oh, yes. I get fed three times a day,” Remington said.

“I am lucky to get fed twice,” Brutus said.

Remington thought for a moment. “But I don’t like riding in that purse with all of my owner’s perfume. And I am only allowed in the park once month. So I don’t get out of the house that much.”

“Oh, strong perfume would be hard with our sensitive nose. And I am outside all of the time. But I guess sleeping in a house is better than sleeping in a dog house and eating old scraps and bones.”

“I guess, but I wish that I could go outside more. And I wouldn’t mind a good tasty bone instead of processed meat,” Remington moved closer to Brutus. “And worst of all, I am supposed to get neutered tomorrow,” Remington whispered.

“Neutered?” Brutus barked with horror. “I would rather eat mud and sleep in hollow log than live the life you are living.”

Moral: No matter how bad your life may seem, someone always has it worse than you.

{Genius of hard work} December 11, 2011

Hector the Shark was bragging about his amazing abilities. Born to a family known for their natural speed and talent, He bragged that he could outrun any creature at Ocean High School. He teased all of the slower creatures including Dylan the Dolphin.

“I am tired of your teasing and bragging,” Dylan the Dolphin said. “So what if you are the fastest? It takes more than speed to win a race.”

Hector laughed. “What? What do you know about speed?”

“I know enough,” Dylan said.

“If you know so much, race me,” Hector said. “I will even give you two weeks to get ready.”

“Fine,” Dylan said.

Hector, happy with the opportunity to embarrass Dylan, spent the next two weeks bragging about how bad he was going to beat Dylan. The day of the race he continued bragging while Dylan said nothing. Even as the two of them stood at the starting line Dylan said nothing. When Octavius the puffer fish increased his size, the two of them took off. Hector took off at full speed, hoping to leave Dylan far behind. But to his surprise, Dylan was not far behind. The two were side by side until they were near the finish line, where Dylan the dolphin, beat Hector the Shark by a nose.

Shocked by his loss, Hector confronted Dylan. “How did you beat me?”

Dylan folded his flippers. “While you were bragging about your natural talent, I was studying and practicing proper race techniques and exercises to improve my swim speed and power. Maybe if you had spent less time talking and more time preparing, you could have won.”

Moral: Knowledge and hard work always beats talent, laziness and a big mouth.

The housefly and the butterfly {November 27, 2011}

A housefly saw a butterfly, while it was flying by a window one day and was so impressed by the butterfly’s beauty that it decided that it wanted to look as beautiful as the butterfly. So the fly, left his home and flew outside. It grabbed a couple of colorful flower petals from a plant and attached the petal to its wings. The fly, thinking that it was beautiful, decided to find other butterflies. After flying for an hour, he finally found one on a porch. “How are you doing?” He asked the butterfly.

The butter fly, seeing the fly in the strange outfit, frowned and asked. “What are you doing?”

“Doing what butterflies do.” And just as he said that, he saw with his compound eye that an old lady was going to hit him with a flyswatter. Normally he would have the speed to fly away, but his new wings weighed him down and the woman flattened him with her flyswatter.

The butterfly looked upon the fly with sadness in his eyes and said. “You are a housefly. I can’t fly as fast or move as fast as you, but I am still thankful because people don’t swat butterflies. Maybe if you were thankful too, you wouldn’t be flattened right now.”

Moral of the story: Be thankful for the gifts that you have, they may save your life.

November 20, 2011

A lonely young genius strutted proudly. He had just built a robot that could mimic a human in every way. The robot could talk like a human, act like a human and even smell like a human. He finally had a companion. He instantly fell in love with his beautiful creation. So much so that he decided to spend an evening getting to know it better at a restaurant that played classical music in the background. “Robot,” the genius said, “are you enjoying the music?”