Ericksonian Fable:The Roadrunner

Published on 2013-06-172014-01-02 by Eugene Morgan

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

A roadrunner was not having luck in finding prey. When he saw a hawk from the sky that dove to scoop up a rodent, he thought to himself “If only I could fly like the hawk, then maybe I could have spotted that rodent.”

The old man heard him and stated, “Of course you can’t fly like a hawk; you have the smallest wings for a big bird as you.”

“But why settle for just rodents when a roadrunner is known to swallow a rattlesnake,” asked the old man.

“Don’t you know when you expand your wings; they’re shaped like a matador’s cape. When a matador uses his cape, he lures a bull in for a series of attacks. The rattlesnake will not care if you can fly, all it will be concern about is what are you going to do with those wings of yours.”

After several days without anything to eat, the roadrunner saw a rattlesnake swallowing a rodent.

“I can’t permit a hawk and now rattlesnake to eat all the rodents,” said the roadrunner.

So the roadrunner confronted the rattlesnake and started flapping his wings and before the rattlesnake started to rattle its tail, the roadrunner quickly snatched its tail with his beak and started whip lashing the rattlesnake’s head against the ground until it was dead. Then the roadrunner slowly swallowed down the rattlesnake.

An Old Raccoon

Published on 2011-04-302014-04-15 by Eugene Morgan

Written by Eugene Morgan

One evening while the old man finished up a long day of fishing and an old raccoon began its evening fishing, discussed about the difficulties of adjusting to old age.

“I hate the idea of growing old,” said the old raccoon.

“Please listen to what I’m about to tell you,” replied the old man. “You’re the oldest coot I have ever seen. You’re the oldest raccoon in your communal den. You dislike the idea of growing old but that’s a fact that you can’t change. And you enjoy being useful when you hunt for fish and frogs. You’re afraid that old age will take away your joy but you’re mistaken.” After hearing this from the old man the raccoon was too shocked to respond before the old man took off.

That next day while a young raccoon saw the old man fishing, asked,

“Can you teach me how to fish?”

“How can I teach you how to fish when you’re a raccoon and I’m a man,” the old man questioned. But that gave the old man an idea and said to the young raccoon,

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow at the stream behind the hill.”

“Okay” replied the young raccoon.

The next evening the old man and the old raccoon was fishing along the stream when approached the young raccoon. The young raccoon knowing better not to ask the old man again, instead, asked the old raccoon to teach him how to catch a fish. Before the old raccoon could give an answer, the old man interrupt and said,

“This raccoon is too old, too fragile, and too stubborn to teach you. The old man looked over to the old raccoon and said,

“This raccoon is too young, too inexperience to catch a fish. In fact, his front paws aren’t fully developed enough to catch anything.”

The old raccoon and the young raccoon both said,

“Can too!” and they both left to prove the old man wrong.

Two weeks had passed before the old man had heard from the old raccoon. The old raccoon said to the old man,

“You’re right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m stubborn, sometimes.”

“Yes, that can either lead you to joy or take it away but old age can do neither,” said the old man.

Bright-eyed and Bushy-tailed

Published on 2011-03-31 by Eugene Morgan

Written by Eugene Morgan

The old man upon hearing the disturbing news about his friend paid a visit to his friend’s underground burrowed home. The old man began hearing a fainted sound as he approached the burrow. He looked down it and wondered what that sound could be. As he lowered his head closer to the burrow’s hole, the sound became recognizable.

“Is that snoring I’m hearing?” the old man asked himself.

A squirrel heard and shouted, “Let me be! A coyote is going to eat me!”

The coyote is nowhere around,” the old man said, “and I can’t make you come out but I can leave you something to eat.”

So the old man left a trail of food and went on his way. Long after the old man left, the ground squirrel resurfaced from his burrow to find acorns; a trail of them. Being afraid, one by one, the squirrel took each acorn back to his burrow and return for the next one. After that, he then realized he had no way of getting back to his burrow because he had taken all the acorns that were left. Too scared to look for the burrow, he decided to follow the remaining trail of acorns in front of him. The trail lead him to the old man.

“A trail begins when a friend helps another friend find his way back,” the old man said.

Ericksonian Fable: The Hungry Lion

Published on 2011-01-292013-04-14 by Eugene Morgan

Written By Eugene Morgan

An old man was in his garden, when a lion approached him and said,

“I’m going to eat you.”

“Oh?” asked surprisingly the old man, “I knew my death would be certain but not by you.”

“Then who were you expecting?” asked the lion.

“A large pack of spotted hyenas,” replied the old man, “I’m honored to die at the mouth of a lion—King of the Beasts! If you are going to kill me then make it swift and sure. But you must be warned that after killing me, the spotted hyenas will smell a fresh scent of my flesh. As you know the spotted hyenas will loot a lion’s kill. Therefore, you will have to drag me for cover if you want to eat all of me. So would you prefer a small part or the whole portion of me?” asked the old man.

“I would prefer the whole portion, but that seems unrealistic. If I kill you here, I will run the risk of only eating a small portion of you before the large pack of spotted hyenas arrive at the scene,” said the lion.

“That’s right!” said the old man. Although you are the King of the Beasts, you’re in the hyenas’ territory.”

The old man curiously asked, “Don’t you smell the scent of the hyenas?”

“Not until you asked me, but I’m a hungry lion.”

“Yes indeed you are but the hyenas smell the scent of you. In fact, during our conversation, they’ve been watching you all the long waiting for you to kill.”

The old man suggested that the lion roar if he wanted to scare off the spotted hyenas, but the lion lost his appetite. The old man asked, “how come?”

The lion said, “Somehow you left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Ericksonian Fable: The Barks Behind The Tree

Published on 2010-10-302011-10-08 by Eugene Morgan

Fallow Deer — Taken at Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary in the New Forest this afternoon. Beautiful sunshine, amazing animals and a great time had by the whole family.

Written By Eugene Morgan

The old man heard faint barks amidst the forest. He went into the forest to investigate. Where he heard the barks, nothing was there. So he left the forest, then later the barks started up again. He returned to the forest but found nothing. This time the old man stayed in the area. The barking sounds grew louder. He took a peek through the tree branches and saw a very small and undernourished yellow deer.

The old man asked,

“Why do you cry out for your mother when she is not here?”

“I’m so weak and hungry,” replied the yellow deer.

“Food is all around you. Twigs, leaves, flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees,” replied the old man, “all are ready to be eaten. But you got to look for them.”

“I would like to graze grass,” replied the yellow deer.

“Winter months are before you. I don’t see grass to be plucked. Grass doesn’t grow well in the winter.”

“You don’t know how delicious twigs will be since you haven’t eaten any before. I don’t thing the twigs are as delicious as the leaves. If I were you I would try the twigs last. Or if you’re going to try them first, then get them out-of-the-way so you can get to the good stuff.”

So the yellow deer tried the twigs first to say that “If the twigs taste this bad, then what is left to eat.”

“Grown-up deers eat them. These leaves are as green as the grass you eat; try them maybe the taste is similar.

“Hmmmm these taste a lot better than the twigs,” replied the yellow deer.

“Have you ever had an acorn before?” asked the old man.

“No I haven’t,” replied the yellow deer, “this will be my first winter without grass.”

“I think acorns are second best to grass. But acorns are very hard to come by because squirrels like to bury them and to dig them out later for winter months. Not every falling acorn from a tree gets a chance to be buried under ground. So lets find an acorn tree.”

Not only did the old man and the yellow deer find an acorn tree; but they also found the mother deer under the tree feeding.