Fable – The Fly and the Flea

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The Fly and the Flea Once, a fly and a flea lived together in a house wherein there also resided one dog and one cat. The fly subsisted on all sorts of fine food that somehow found its way into the garbage can in the kitchen, and the flea lived on whatever he could pick up from either the dog or the cat. Sometimes the dog had a doggy bone on which he chewed. Being a dog, he was often careless about leaving his doggy bone on the floor somewhere, and the fly enjoyed buzzing to such bones so as to help the dog eat it. Likewise, kitty might spill some tuna here or there, and that also brought extra happiness to the fly. The flea would simply ride around on the dog and the cat, dining on them as fleas like to do. It did not matter to the flea about messy doggy bones or tuna scraps being dropped onto the otherwise clean floors because he had his clean dog and clean cat to keep his tummy full. As it happened, the dog dropped a meaty doggy bone onto the floor just when the flea was riding by atop the cat. The fly was just then homing in on that doggy bone. “Treat time,” thought the fly. The cat walked by, startling the fly. The fly looked up and spotted the flea sitting there on top of the cat. “Well, my gracious, you are one of those fleas my momma told me about when I was still in my egg,' said the fly to the flea. “Yup, I'm a flea all right. And are you one of those buzzy fat flies people swat at all the time?” “Yes, I am a fly. And I see that you have no wings. Hah. Look at my wings. I can jump off of this doggy bone and fly right up to the top of the kitchen table in just one little moment of time. That's something you can't do because you have no wings.” “Tell you what, Fly, let's have a race. When the kitchen clock ticks its tenth tick, let's see who can get to the kitchen tabletop the fastest.” The clock ticked, tick, tick, tick... and on the tenth tick the fly flew and the little flea jumped. As the fly landed on the tabletop, he was met there by the little flea who greeted him with a hearty “Welcome there, Brother Fly. I beat you fair and square.” “How'd you do that?” asked the fly. “I practice jumping a lot,” answered the flea, “especially when my dog or my cat get to scratching their silly hides with those sharp-clawed paws of theirs. Moral: Never fly in the face of certain defeat by someone controlled by leaps of faith. * * * * * * * * * * Image source – My Broderbund image DVD * * * * * * * * * *