THE FARMER AND THE STORK
For millennia, as a means of conveying a thought or idea, allegory has been employed — with concise, brief speech (fable) or with image (polysemous symbols)…
Fables, written in a language mocking and censuring the various human characters and diverse phenomena presented through animals, plants or various objects, sound topical even today.
Here is one of them — from Vardan Aygektsi:
«The Farmer and the Stork»:
«The farmer sowed beans and chickpeas on the bank of the river.
From the nearby reed-bed geese and cranes came out and gathered the seeds.
The farmer prepared snares and placed them at the edge of the sown field. Towards morning he took his oak club and went to look at the snares.
The geese and cranes had come and fallen into the traps; with them was a Stork.
The farmer with his club began to break the necks of the geese and cranes.
– O kind-hearted farmer,- the Stork addresses him in a pleading voice,- you know well that I eat neither beans nor chickpeas; I am also your good friend, I remove snakes, mice and worms from your fields, I lighten your care. And now, spare me and do not punish me.
– That is true,- says the Farmer,- but since you have joined with my enemies, you too will perish with them».
