Chapter 16: Thơ ngụ ngôn La Fontaine (Summary)

The first fable tells the story of a bird named Sao who collects fallen peacock feathers and sticks them onto its body to parade around with the peacocks in a pretentious manner. Recognizing the impostor, the flock of peacocks attacks Sao fiercely, stripping away the borrowed plumage until only its natural black feathers remain. Humiliated, Sao returns to its own kind, but they also chase it away for its deceit. The narrator reflects that the literary world similarly contains many pretenders who borrow talent. The second fable features a pig, a female goat, and a sheep being transported together in a cart to market by a master who intends to sell them for profit. While the goat and sheep remain relatively quiet during the journey, the pig screams frantically and noisily in terror. Annoyed by the loud outcry, the master scolds the pig and points to the silent sheep and goat as examples of desirable behavior. The pig sharply replies that the other two animals are foolishly unaware of their true fate because they believe they will only face minor shearing and milking. In contrast, the pig understands that its ultimate destiny is slaughter for food, making its loud lamentation entirely justified. Ultimately, both narratives use animal allegories to comment on human nature. The first story satirizes intellectual dishonesty and the mockery faced by those who wear false prestige. The second story highlights the tragic awareness of the doomed pig compared to the ignorant complacency of its fellow captives, concluding that understanding one's inevitable fate does not necessarily change the tragic outcome.