Modern Fables and Parables or Moral Truth in a Nutshell
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Authors
Harris, W.S.
Krafft, Paul J.
Issue Date
1903
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This book seemed so promising! I have to admit that I am disappointed, even though it is a genuine curiosity, and I am delighted to have it. The cover features an embossed Heighway illustration of FS. The book includes 111 stories. Eighty-two of them are illustrated. The beginning has a T of C, as well as a list of illustrations. Two sections of Harris' preface strike me: The great majority of these fables and parables are entirely new and were wrought out with careful analysis and patient toil. No patience or time was spared to make these many illustrations the best that can be found in any book of its kind in the world. Wow! One example of an adapted fable is The Vain Dog, FC all over again (328). The stories disappoint me because they are exaggerated or contrary to nature. Thus a hireling works so hard that he drops dead as he finishes meeting a challenge with a lucrative prize (47). A homeowner dynamites a rat hole and thus destroys the floor of his house (51)! A hen pecks her favorite eggs and so spoils them (108). A fish tires out a bird in a fight (109). A camel buys a dynamite-laden candle to see his way through the night (159). For all this criticism, there is something naturally fetching in this book for me. Not the least of its attractions is the good sense one finds in a moral like this: When you measure yourself with your own hand, count twelive inches for a foot and then deduct one-half (53). The Bug and the Capitalist (26) presents social criticism of capitalism that I would not have expected here.
Description
Citation
Publisher
Brethren Publishing House
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Identifier
2773 (Access ID)