Reading Notes: Bidpai Part A

The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton
The Fox and the Piece of Meat

Cool Fox Picture (Wikimedia)

The main character in this story is a fox. The fox had a piece of meat but he wanted more. Classic foxes. In all the the stories about foxes in this book, the main theme is greed. Apparently foxes are greedy creatures. What I found interesting in this story was that although the fox was warned by the Jackal to keep his piece of meat and not go after the fowls, he decided that he knew better than the Jackal. I think the fox was not only greedy but also prideful. He wanted to show that he was better than the Jackal and decided to go after the fowls, but he was punished for it. Of course, the classic twist at the end included the fox losing his piece of meat because he wanted more. This reminds me of game shows where people have the opportunity to gain more money or keep what they have, and we often yell at the TV and say, "Go for it!" or "No! Stay! Keep the money!" Sometimes, when we are in that position we would think that we wouldn't greed for more and lose what we have, but I like to think that we would. Another character I really like in the story was somewhat minor but I think he had an important role. Zirak not only did a great job protecting his fowls, but he has a super cool name. I respect Zirak a lot for being known as the protector by the jackal and being so adamant about protecting his fowls. It was very funny as well that his weapon of choice was a stick. Foxes are small animals, but if something larger came after his chickens, I wonder what he would use to scare it off. I'm going to try to make this into another Bojack story, but I have to find a character that exhibits characteristics of the fox. It could be Bojack, but who knows.