The Fox and The Crane

The Fox and The Crane

One day, a fox invited a crane to have lunch at his house. The fox was enjoying the meat soup in a plate while the crane could only watch. Her long beak made drinking from plate difficult if not impossible. The crane went home hungry.

Few days later, the crane invited the fox to her house for lunch. The crane was enjoying the soup in a tall-necked jar while the fox could only watched. He couldn't drink from it. The fox went home hungry.

The moral of the story was: be considerate, thinking of the needs of others while serving yours.

Then, one day after many years hearing the story, a teenager came to me and asked:'


1) the fox and the crane were speaking different language? They couldn't communicate or understand each other well? The fox assumed the crane might behave or drink like him. When she didn't, the fox assumed that may be the soup wasn't nice or not suitable for the crane? Without conversing, the fox let the crane went home hungry?
The crane? She blamed the fox for being not sensitive or considerate and did tit-for-tat? Why didn't she ask for another container suitable for her?
How should they know what was going on if they never talk?

2) nobody taught them how other species are behaving and they never saw one? The crane was lucky that she wasn't the lunch for the fox; the fox was lucky that he wasn't invited by the crane to catch live fish or shell or having a self service-eat-all-you-can-meal in the wild. He might drown. No?

3) cultural exchange is not easy sometimes as old habits die hard. Why bother?'. End of the questions.

Hhhmmm...........what a youngster. Somehow, these triggered some thoughts.............

Do you think this story is similar to the wars sparkle here and there in the world? A war started because:

(A) The involved parties don't speak the same language, they can't talk so just fight.

(B) The involved parties don't know much about each other but they assume a lot, particularly about each other's intention.

(C) Somebody is not taught to be sensitive or considerate. They need to be educated.

(D) Rocks are diamonds, soil is gold in some areas. No food, no water, no money, no peace, no life, never mind.

(E) ...............Fill in your answer, please......................................................

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