Still on the theme of tales; the topic at my writing group recently was prejudice. I decided to write a sort of updated Aesop fable. Hope you enjoy it.
Magpie and Crow
Magpie and Crow were sitting on the bowling green having a good chin-wag. Magpie shook his head and said,
‘Have you seen Goose lately? It’s no wonder she’s so obese; all she does is loaf about on the lake all day, never lifts a feather to help anyone.’
Crow replied with a supercilious glint in her eye, ‘Goose? don’t talk to me about Goose, I wouldn’t be seen dead with the likes of her.’
Magpie bobbed his long tail and preened his feathers. Crow flapped both wings and hopped onto a nearby park bench and said, ‘What about Woodpecker? Did you know he’s joined the Head-bashing Party?’
Magpie shook his head and said, ‘Well, I’ve always known he was left wing; haven’t you noticed he flies in circles because of his left wing?’
‘Um, now you mention it, I never did like the way he flies; far too left wing!’
Magpie was warming up now. ‘But of course old Owl is the complete opposite – too right wing!’
Crow took the opportunity to chip in; ‘Yes, he’s so far right he doesn’t know his left wing exists!’
Magpie flew down from the bench uttering a raucous cackle which disturbed a pigeon which had been pecking at a piece of mouldy bread someone had dropped on the tarmac path. Pigeon hopped nearer to Magpie itching to join in the conversation. Crow sidled in and gave a disgruntled ‘caw’ flying straight at pigeon’s head. Pigeon got in a flap and escaped over a hedge. Crow and Magpie joined each other again on the park bench.
Crow was the first to speak: ‘Scruffy Pigeon! I don’t know what she was thinking, getting above herself if you ask me. There’d soon be a revolution if we conversed with riff-raff like her!
Magpie nodded vigorously, ‘Hasn’t she heard of the universal pecking order! Common as muck. Did you see what she was eating? Disgusting!’
Crow replied, ‘What do you expect? That sums up her life-style, always fraternising with commoners and grubbing in the gutter!’
Magpie continued, ‘That reminds me, have you seen Peacock since he’s grown his tail feathers?’ Crow cawed and scratched her head, ‘Far too ostentatious, you wouldn’t find me taking to the likes of him!’
Magpie preened his tail and cackled smugly, ‘He’s even on Facebook! Definitely delusions of grandeur. Next thing you know he’ll be signing autographs!’
Crow cawed one more time and said, ‘He’s a total narcissist!’
The two birds of a feather were silent for at least a minute then Magpie turned lovingly to Crow and said,
‘Well, my old chum, I’m glad you agree with me; it shows you’re a bird of exceptionally good taste.’
And with that, Magpie and Crow flew into a pine tree to settle down for the evening. Neither of them noticed that they were the only ones in the tree.
All Things Creative 
Do you know you’re doing the same thing Socrates did while he was in prison waiting to be executed? He is known for never embracing the technology of writing things down (because he felt the meaning would be too static to be properly understood), but in prison he reinterprets a dream he had throughout his life which tells him to cultivate the arts. He had previously taken this to mean doing his questioning thing. But at the last minute he fears he may have misinterpreted the dream, so he begins to write poetry based on Aesop’s fables.
As a child I had an illustrated Aesop’s fables, with which I was utterly enchanted. I loved the justice and fairness in the tales, as well as the cleverness and simplicity.
Yours is a lovely way to exhibit prejudice and I especially like the Facebook reference.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your appreciation. It’s the first time I’ve ever been compared to Socrates!
LikeLike