A Fable
by Don Magary

How a decision by one resident of the forest had a lasting impact on the other animals of the forest . .

It was an enchanted place, a vast forest where all the inhabitants prospered and lived in warm fellowship and peace. These were an industrious lot who worked in harmony and depended upon each other. Bears were especially skilled at fishing, finding honey and picking berries. Squirrels were flawless at finding and storing nuts. And when it came to foraging the shallow waters for clams and the like, raccoons were unsurpassed. As you would expect, some bears were better honey finders than others; some squirrels had more than enough nuts to get them through the winter; and a raccoon that was crafty and skilled could bring to shore more clams than he and his kin could ever consume.

To ease the burden of animals who were less skilled, a network of independent stations were set up in various parts of the forest where those more efficient would sell their abundance and the less efficient could come in and barter for what they needed. After a time the bear for example discovered that delivering honey to hundreds of stations and keeping track of which station got how much was taking up all his time, and soon he was unable to spend the time necessary to find honey. And having other things on his mind he often worked too fast and was being stung by those pesky bees more often than he cared to remember. Being an enterprising bear he put his mind to the problem and gradually an idea dawned on him. He called a meeting of all his more efficient counterparts and sure enough, they were in the same predicament. He said, "What if I were to build a storehouse and acquire all your abundance?" A soft and yes, even suspicious, murmur spread throughout the gathering. Sensing their skepticism, the bear quickly continued, "That way, you will only have to fetch your abundance to one site near your area of harvesting and you will have more time for using your skills. Now since you will not have to spend time delivering and peddling, you can risk letting me have your abundance at a lower amount. That way, I can protect my investment of building the storehouse, deliver your abundance to the many stations and still make a modest profit myself."

The wariness of the crowd disappeared and the idea being a good one was immediately adopted. Soon all those involved prospered. It wasn't too long before other bears in diverse reaches of the vast forest heard of the plan and adopted it too. And after a time it seemed everyone was content and they would have lived happily ever after except for one fateful day.

It came to pass that a shiney coated, handsome red fox wandered into the forest and happened upon the bear's storehouse. "What is this?" the fox asked, and the bear told him his story and how the idea was being used throughout the vast forest. Red the Fox was exceptionally intelligent, extremely ambitious and extraordinarily shrewd. He thought to himself, "If I could acquire a large number of these storehouses, I'd make a pretty profit for myself and live happily ever after." So one by one, Red started acquiring storehouses, and soon he had storehouses from one end of the vast forest to the other.

Everything was going along splendidly for all the animals of the forest, especially Red the Fox, but one day Red by chance heard of a nearby forest where inexpensive imitation walnuts were being produced by a wily weasel named Wally. Red investigated and discovered the weasel's "Wally-nuts," looked like walnuts, smelled like walnuts, but didn't necessarily taste like walnuts and were less nutritious. But no matter, Red the Fox was shrewd and he earnestly believed that the squirrels who had acquired an insatiable craving for walnuts were not apt to discover the Wally-nuts' minor shortcomings until they were in their winter nests. And with the snow laden branches of their trees brittle with the cold, it was doubtful they would venture out of their warm holes to complain or ask for real walnuts. Red was beside himself because these imitations could be obtained at a fraction of what the skilled squirrels required. So he bought a goodly supply of "Wally-nuts" and when a station ordered walnuts Red would say, "We're temporarily out of stock on walnuts, but I have a goodly supply of these Wally-nuts." "What are these `Wally-nuts'?" the station managers queried. Red assured them that the "Wally-nuts" were almost the same as walnuts, but would cost them much less. That satisfied the station managers. They filled their bags to overflowing with a goodly supply of Red's Wally-nuts and trudged homeward with visions of higher profits swirling around in their furry heads.

Soon those skilled squirrels who had been bringing their abundance to Red the Fox noticed a dramatic decline in walnut requisitions and asked Red why he had curtailed ordering walnuts. The squirrels were astounded to discover that Red had supplanted their walnuts with "Wally-nuts." This infuriated the squirrels to no end, but they received some solace by still being able to peddle their hazel nuts so they kept their mouths shut. Wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you know it, that wily weasel Wally had a cousin named Hazel. And she had a talent for making shoddy facsimiles of hazel nuts, which she called Hazel's nuts. Red the Fox requisitioned a goodly supply of Hazel's nuts and then ask the band of wily weasels if they had cousins who could make artificial honey, fruits and clams. They could and they did. Red was so overcome with gladness that a tear swelled up in his eye and dripped on his swelling purse.

And as you no doubt imagined, the lucrative market collapsed for walnuts first, then hazelnuts, followed shortly by honey, fruits and clams. And soon Red had found a reasonable facsimile for every edible commodity that the vast forest produced in abundance. The skilled dwellers of the forest soon stopped harvesting more than they needed for themselves -- except for the small amount that they still dispensed to the few remaining independent storehouses that Red had not yet acquired. Red the Fox prospered beyond his wildest dreams, and at night he would fall asleep taking inventory of contents of that stained purse.

So life was real good for Red the Fox. He had everything. His many storehouses were overflowing with every facsimile imaginable. Those who operated the stations throughout the forest all had to come to him to get their supplies to distribute in their area. The animals of the forest all said, "It just can't get any better for ole' Red." Well, that was not quite true.

One day while tasting his imitation honey called "Funny Honey," Red spat in repulsion. Just then a clever idea occurred to him. He had all these storehouses, and they were scattered throughout the vast forest. Red asked himself, "Why not let the forest animals come to my storehouses and barter for their needs rather than going to the stations near their nests?" He was especially pleased with this notion and put the scheme into effect immediately. And the forest animals rushed to Red's storehouses, willing to travel quite a bit farther from their nests and caves because the wares were less expensive than at the stations near their homes. One by one, the stations closed their doors forever. And unfortunately for the animals of the vast forest when there were no more stations near their nests and caves, Red increased his prices even beyond what the stations used to charge for walnuts, hazelnuts and honey. The animals of the forest missed the good old days when they could go to the stations near their nests and caves, barter for fresh natural walnuts, hazelnuts and honey, and enjoy the abundance with their kin. At night after the sun had long since set, they'd recollect the sweet savory flavors of these now rare delicacies and narrate legends of the old days to their young telling them of how it used to be -- before Red the Fox happened into the forest and before "Wally-nuts, Hazel's nuts and "Funny Honey."

It came to pass that soon thereafter, Red the Fox owned everything in the forest, including the vast forest itself. Occasionally, while tramping along paths in his forest and growing fat eating walnuts, hazelnuts and honey, Red would happen upon a skilled one who had formerly peddled his abundance to Red, but now was forbidden to even harvest enough to meet his own meager needs. The skilled one would ask Red, "Why, when everything was working so well and everyone prospered did you stop preferring the abundance we brought you and become satisfied with the wily weasels' wares?"

Red the Fox, not fearing retaliation since he owned everything, explained, "In the beginning, I needed the abundance of skilled ones like you so I could make more profit to acquire more storehouses, but soon I discovered that I could take the profits I accumulated from selling your abundance and make even more profit and acquire even more storehouses by importing the wily weasels' wares."

One day Red happened upon a displaced and bankrupted station manager, and the station manager asked, "Why, when everything was working so well and everyone profited handsomely did you purloin my patrons?" Red answered, "At first, I needed the trade of the stations in order to make more profit so I could acquire more storehouses, but after I had all the storehouses I desired in all the forest's best locations, I no longer needed the business of the stations and I fancied your profits. I realized I could make more profit and buy even more of the wily weasels' wares by offering these facsimiles directly to the animals of the forest from my many storehouses."

"You mean," the station manager sobbed, his head and shoulders drooped in shame, "I along with the skilled ones participated in and contributed to our own ruin and in fact underwrote your scheme?"

Red the Fox, swished his long, fluffy red tail in the station manager's face, stuffed a fresh walnut into his fat cheek and sauntered arrogantly away, chuckling all the while to himself.

And Red the Fox lived happily forever after, albeit, other animals of the forest were far less gratified with the consequences.

And today, if by chance you happen into that vast forest, you will notice that it is no longer enchanted -- and you shan't want to indulge in those nuts, honey nor even the fruits -- nay, don't even sample them as they have long since soured and rotted.