Some panicky Pigeons agree to let the Kite rule their dovecote, so long as he promises not to take advantage of his position.
This little Fable should hardly require explanation, yet the lesson it teaches is repeatedly forgotten. When we are bullied and badgered, it is easy to appease our tormentor in the hope that ready compliance will be rewarded with peace; but bullies don’t stop bullying, it’s what they do.
A bee asks a blessing of the king of the gods, but what she gets from him is not quite what she had in mind.
This Fable is a reprimand to those who go beyond protecting themselves from attack, which is very reasonable, and take to visiting harm on everyone whom their fears inflate into a threat. It is not only unjust, but self-defeating: after all, where would bees be without beekeepers, and beekeepers without bees?