Don't Give Love a Bad Mane

This has been a week where I have been at the mercy of my Outlook calendar to find time for lunch, if I am lucky. In times like these, I tend to consult humor for a bit of a boost. March is also a month of birthdays for some of my very favorite people so this morning in pursuit of inspiration for the rest of the week and as a nod to the Pisces and Aires among us, I picked up a fable by James Thurber "The Lion Who Wanted to Zoom."

This two paragraph tale is a battle of wits between the eagle who wanted a mane and the lion who wanted wings. Using his strength, the lion won the wings but was challenged to jump off a tall rock by the eagle. Gravity took its natural course and the lion crashed, bursting into flames giving the eagle an opportunity to reclaim not only his wings but the lion's mane. Being a playful eagle, he donned the mane to surprise his she-mate who (being a bit scared) shot him with a pistol thinking he was a lion. Thurber's moral:

Never allow a nervous female to have access to a pistol, no matter what you're wearing.

(Russell Baker's Book of American Humor, p 451)