More Fables, Myths, and Financial Lessons from Short Stories

When discussing Financial literacy, it’s important to remember that we learned a lot of lessons from short fables, stories, and folklore. By the way, I didn’t write these stories. Just resharing them here to help jog memories with aha! moments.

These stories were once pivotal as warnings or cautionary tales. When I was growing up Aesop Fables and Grimm Fairytales were amazingly dark. There were rarely happy endings with a heavy emphasis on life not being fair.

Yet, they offered financial nuggets that stand the test of time.

Table of Contents

The Most Dangerous Financial Lessons

Trusting Your Instincts

A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river.

The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and the scorpion would drown.

The frog then agrees, but midway across the river, the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both.

When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature.

The lesson from this tale:

When people show you who they are believe them. More importantly, when people tell you who they are, know it to be true. Turns out most people don’t change. Instead, the act of growing up means that you are becoming more of yourself. If a person lies and cheats to others, they will lie and cheat you.

When people gossip with you, be sure that they will gossip about you to others.

If the person is insincere with others, they will be insincere with you. It’s in their nature. To quote Kevin Harts’s Book about Monsters; they are likely your friend because they resonate with you. You are likely a scorpion too. While it might seem harsh, knowing one’s nature is the best defense. Now you are aware of your own nature.

On a deep level, one’s nature is neither good nor bad since we are imperfect arbiters. Just think of it like a cup; is it a bad cup or a good cup? In truth, the real question is, does the cup serves you?

The Nature of the Hunt vs the Hunted

The Most Dangerous Game” is a 1924 short story by Richard Connell. The story is about a big-game hunter from New York City who falls from a yacht and swims to an isolated island in the Caribbean. There, he is introduced to a Russian aristocrat, General Zaroff, who offers up the world’s greatest game (hunting).

Something feels off about the entire situation. From the trophies adorning the walls. Turns out, the General grew bored and wanted to hunt Richard, for sport. Why? Because there is no animal more cunning or dangerous than man.

The story’s theme is that sometimes you have to go against your morals to survive. Here are some details about the story:

General Zaroff believes that humans have the ability to reason, making them harder to track. The value in humans is the ability to adapt.
Zaroff is impressed with Rainsford and exclaims that he won the game. Rainsford does not take it lightly and intends to fight Zaroff to the death. Why? Because success breeds “Hunger” (to quote the Thai Netflix Movie). You can be driven by it until you lose everything. If you haven’t lost everything yet, just keep going.
The story ends with the line, “He’d never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (15), implying that Rainsford has killed Zaroff.

The Lesson from the Ants and the Grasshopper by Aesop’s Fables

This is a short story for the little ones about a grasshopper that spends its summer singing while the ant works hard to stack food for the upcoming winter. When the winter season arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger and begs the ant for food.

What’s the takeaway?

Stay prepared. Instead of a work-life balance, focus on a long-term plan for success. The average American lives by the YOLO model. there is always a later. When things are great, most spend more whereas they would be better-served savings and investing for the future.