La Fontaine's Fables #15: The Lion and the Donkey Hunting

The Lion and the Donkey Hunting

In this fable, the lion and the donkey are a team, but the goal of the team is only for the benefit of the lion. The lion has no respect for the donkey, and the donkey tries to glorify himself for the end result, instead of realizing that it was a team effort.

The lion is not a good leader

  • No shared vision with the donkey
  • He decides, and the other executes his command
  • No recognition of the donkey's performance

The donkey is not a good team member

  • No initiative in the execution
  • No words, except to claim the honors of the successful hunt


le_lion_et_l_ane_chassant.png


Le Lion et l'Âne Chassant

Le roi des animaux se mit un jour en tête
De giboyer : il célébrait sa fête.
Le gibier du lion, ce ne sont pas moineaux,
Mais beaux et bons sangliers, daims et cerfs bons et beaux.
Pour réussir dans cette affaire
Il se servit du ministère
De l’âne à la voix de Stentor.
L’âne à messer lion fit office de cor.
Le lion le posta, le couvrit de ramée,
Lui commanda de braire, assuré qu’à ce son
Les moins intimidés fuiraient de leur maison.
Leur troupe n’était pas encore accoutumée
À la tempête de sa voix ;
L’air en retentissait d’un bruit épouvantable :
La frayeur saisissait les hôtes de ces bois ;
Tous fuyaient, tous tombaient
           au piège inévitable
Où les attendait le lion.
N’ai-je pas bien servi dans cette occasion ?
Dit l’âne en se donnant
           tout l’honneur de la chasse.
Oui, reprit le lion, c’est bravement crié :
Si je ne connaissais ta personne et ta race,
J’en serais moi-même effrayé.
L’âne, s’il eût osé,
           se fût mis en colère,
Encor qu’on le raillât avec juste raison ;
Car qui pourrait souffrir un âne fanfaron ?
Ce n’est pas là leur caractère.

The Lion and the Donkey Hunting

The king of beasts once decided to hunt
Game: he was celebrating his feast.
For the lion, game is not sparrows,
But beautiful and good boars,
           deers and stags good and beautiful.
To succeed in this business
He used the ministry
Of the donkey with the voice of Stentor.
The donkey served as a horn to master lion.
The lion posted him, covered him with rows,
Commanded him to bray, sure that at this sound
Those less shy would flee from their homes.
Their troop was not yet accustomed
To the storm of his voice;
The air resounded with a dreadful noise:
Fear seized the guests of these woods;
All fled, and all fell
           into the inevitable trap
Where the lion was waiting for them.
Have I not served well on this occasion?
Said the donkey, giving himself
           all the honor of the hunt.
Yes, resumed the lion, you have bravely cried:
If I did not know your person and your race,
I would be scared of it myself.
The donkey, if he had dared,
           would have become angry,
Although he was justly mocked;
For who could suffer a swaggering donkey?
That's not their character.


First Fable: The Circada and the Ant

Previous fable: The Crow who wants to imitate the Eagle

Next fable: The Wolf turned Shepherd


A dysfunctioning team

  • There is no collective goal: the lion is only preoccupied with getting food and showing his power, and the donkey wants to be recognized as having a loud voice.

  • There is no debriefing about the experience of the hunt: they don't discuss afterward what worked well or what should be improved.

  • No common goal and no trust between the two members of the team.


In any team, such as a company, a startup, a political party, or a local association, there should be a shared goal that will benefit all the team members, and even better everybody that is not part of the team.

If the CEO of the company only wants to enrich himself, even if he pretends otherwise, the company may not be successful in the long run, as employees are not really interested in the wealth of the CEO.

A startup, a political party, or an association that works only for the benefit of the leaders has no great future.

The leader or leaders of a team should express their real vision and try to share it with all the team members.


Another way for a team to not be well-performing is to have a limited goal which, when reached, will mean the end of the team.

I once worked for a company that was created initially for a single goal. It took many years to reach this goal. Several of us saw that the company has developed technologies that could be applied elsewhere and we try to push the company to market these technologies, and thus have a new vision. However, the leadership did not follow us. I used to say that the company seemed to tell us: Hurry up doing your work, so that we may fire you and terminate the company. Needless to say, I left before the end of the company.


Many cryptocurrencies have been created mainly for the benefit of the founders. Some of the early investors could see this and realize that they too would benefit from what will probably be a Ponzi scheme. And the majority of later investors did lose their shirts in the process.

One could also say that the sale of Steemit.com to Justin Sun changed the goal of the STEEM blockchain from benefitting the community of users to only a small part of the users. And we all know what happened later.

On the other end, Hive being a totally decentralized blockchain, with no single company mainly benefitting, is for the benefit of all of its users, bloggers, gamers, or otherwise.

-- Vincent Celier

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