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Hypocrisy in the workplace

Ambrose Bierce’s “The Grasshopper and the Ant”

Posted on January 30, 2026February 3, 2026 by John Lubans

One day in winter a hungry Grasshopper applied to an Ant for some of the food which they had stored. “Why,” said the Ant, “did you not store up  some food for yourself, instead of singing all the time?” “So I did,” said the Grasshopper; “so I did; but you fellows broke in and carried…

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Ambrose Bierce’s “The Party Manager and the Gentleman”*

Posted on December 27, 2025December 27, 2025 by John Lubans

While reading Senator John Kennedy’s book, “How to Test Negative for Stupid” (2025) I harked back to Bierce’s biting commentary on American politicians. Bierce had no use for fools, so he would have been delighted to meet Mr. Kennedy, an Oxford graduate, a native of Louisiana and a top notch lawyer. Mr. Kennedy tells, in…

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Lubans’ The Accidental Fare Evader fable (a la Krylov*)

Posted on November 23, 2025November 24, 2025 by John Lubans

  In Eastern Europe, during communist rule, a befuddled tourist found himself on a city bus without a ticket. As happens, the bus police boarded, demanding to see tickets. The tourist, along with a few villainous looking individuals was escorted off the bus. “The fine is 5 kopecks,” said the guard. “Plus 15 kopecks for…

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Caption: Illustration by Milo Winter for the "Aesop for Children", 1919.

Ambrose Bierce’s, The Wolf and the Feeding Goat*

Posted on October 31, 2025November 6, 2025 by John Lubans

A Wolf saw a Goat feeding at the summit of a rock, where he could not get at her. “Why do you stay up there in that sterile place and go hungry?” said the Wolf.  “Down here where I am the broken-bottle vine cometh up as a flower, the celluloid collar blossoms as the rose,…

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A Fable for Intolerant Times: Tom’s Tale*

Posted on September 22, 2025November 6, 2025 by John Lubans

Once in winter, a flock of wild turkeys made its circuitous way across farmlands and through forests. There were two dozen, young and old. One turkey, Tom by name, somehow mangled his foot and could not keep up. He called to the flock and asked them to slow down, but no one responded. When the group…

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Of Weeping Bald Men and Phony Solicitude

Posted on August 31, 2025November 7, 2025 by John Lubans

The Fable of  The Weeping Bald Man and Some Partridges by Odo* of Cheriton** “Against Rulers Feigning Justice” “A bald man, his eyes streaming with tears, was killing partridges. And one partridge said to another: ‘Behold the man – how good and saintly he is.’ And the other asked: ‘Why do you call him good?’…

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John Lubans

John Lubans (WSJ portrait)
WSJ rendering from a photo by Eva Baughman.

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