"And you!" the woman said, beginning her address to the couple that had exploited the stork. "How is it, that when first you laid eyes upon this creature, in all its majesty, you declared it well and good to tease and torture it the way you have? In this way, you not only forced it to give you pleasure, but invited others to reap pleasure from it also, deeply perverting the true nature of the stork. You became gorged and drunk on it, like tyrants and prostitutes, taking what you wanted without a second thought to what it was you were doing. Do you not see that the stork is wild, and that the truth of its nature cannot be subject to any man, that he should reap what he wants from it? You have insulted the stork by declaring it an object for your pleasure. Yet it is not an object, but a creature, living and wild, and it must be tamed, not tortured."
"You have said to us, 'You must stop teasing this bird and reaping pleasure from it'," the couple began with their counter-argument. "Yet we ask: what then? If we are to stop teasing the stork, and therefore stop reaping pleasure from it, what then are we supposed to do with it? Would we not, if we ceased reaping pleasure from it, surely grow bored and forget the stork? Yet you have argued that the stork is good. We point out that, if something is good, then it should not be forgotten. Therefore, we must not stop teasing the stork, lest we forget it, and rid ourselves of the good gifts that it was meant to give to us."
"On this point we are well agreed: that the stork should not be forgotten, lest we rid ourselves of the good gifts that it was meant to give to us. Yet you have also said: 'If we do not tease the stork, and so reap pleasure from it, we will surely forget it.' By saying this, you have implied that the kind of baseless, sensuous pleasure that you have reaped form the stork so far is the only good gift that it has to give. What demon has convinced of such an atrocious fantasy?! Do you not know the true nature of the stork? It was not meant to bestow baseless, sensuous pleasure, but true, unadulterated pleasure, coupled with joy. And I tell you that the goodness of the former cannot compare to the goodness of the latter. Thus, your error is two-fold: not only have you insulted the true nature of the stork by implying that the only good gift it is capable of giving is baseless, sensuous pleasure (if that can be called good), but you have deprived yourselves of the true pleasure and joy that it could have given you, which is by far the better of the two gifts."
YOU ARE READING
The Fable of the Stork
Cerita PendekYou all know of the stork, yes? It is a fairly ordinary bird, looking much like a heron. The black feathers of the wings contrast sharply with the rest of the white, slender body, complete with a long beak and long legs. But the stork in this sto...
