I remember a parable from a book I read 2 summers ago (it’s been bothering me since then, aarrrrgh!) and I can’t remember the wording of the story OR which book it was in.
I seem to think it was from either 1984 or one of the Foundation novels from Asimov, because it was used to demonstrate the evils of having an untrustworthy ally that has consequences long after the alliance (maybe people being afraid of the Second Foundaion?), but it could be something else. I read about 15 books that summer because I had nothing better to do. Anyway, here it is (what I can remember of it):
A Horse is being terrorized by a Wolf. He realizes that the Man is also afraid of the wolf. The Horse approaches the Man and suggests they team up to defeat the Wolf. The Man puts a saddle and bridle on the horse, so they can fight the wolf together. Together, they defeat the Wolf. After the victory, the Horse thanks the Man and asks him to take off the saddle and bridle. The Man just laughs, tugs on the reigns, and rides the Horse back to his house.
That’s my paraphrase, which really sucks. If somebody can a) point me to the actual text of the story, and b) tell me which book I read it in, I’d be eternally grateful.
It’s from Asimov’s Foundation. In fact, the short story which was later made into that section of the book was called “Bridle and Saddle”. If no one else does, I’ll post the actual text from Foundation, but you’ve pretty well got the gist of it. (I don’t believe it’s original to Asimov; I’m pretty sure it’s an old folk story, or maybe even one of Aesop’s fables.)
Excellent! thanks. If you have the text in front of you that would be nice, but even better, I have the paperbacks of all 3 Foundation books at home. Can you just tell me where I could find it? How far into the story, etc. I suppose I could just read them all again, but it would take a few days.
Yup, it appears to be a variant of a story from Aesop’s Fables entitled “The Horse, Hunter, and Stag”. In this variant (which is the original, I guess) rather than the horse and man combining forces against their mutual enemy, the wolf, the horse foolishly asks a human for help in a quarrel between the horse and the stag. (Frankly, the horse, man, and wolf story seems to make more sense to me.) The basic moral is the same:
“If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.”
Asimov’s version is found in the first Foundation novel (which I don’t have in front of me); I believe it’s the second section of Foundation.
Okay, the story is actually found in chapter 8 of Part III (“The Mayors”) of Foundation. (I don’t know how well page numbers will hold up across editions; that should narrow it down to within a few pages.) This was originally a separate short story or novella entitled “Bridle and Saddle”. Here’s Asimov’s version of the fable: