Ericksonian Fables

An Old Raccoon

Published on by Eugene Morgan

Raccoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Eugene Morgan

One evening while the old man finished up a long day of fishing and an old raccoon began its evening fishing, discussed about the difficulties of adjusting to old age.

“I hate the idea of growing old,” said the old raccoon.

“Please listen to what I’m about to tell you,” replied the old man.  “You’re the oldest coot I have ever seen.  You’re the oldest raccoon in your communal den.  You dislike the idea of growing old but that’s a fact that you can’t change.  And you enjoy being useful when you hunt for fish and frogs. You’re afraid that old age will take away your joy but you’re mistaken.”  After hearing this from the old man the raccoon was too shocked to respond before the old man took off.

That next day while a young raccoon saw the old man fishing, asked,

“Can you teach me how to fish?”

“How can I teach you how to fish when you’re a raccoon and I’m a man,” the old man questioned.  But that gave the old man an idea and said to the young raccoon,

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow at the stream behind the hill.”

“Okay” replied the young raccoon.

The next evening the old man and the old raccoon was fishing along the stream when approached the young raccoon.  The young raccoon knowing better not to ask the old man again, instead, asked the old raccoon to teach him how to catch a fish.  Before the old raccoon could give an answer, the old man interrupt and said,

“This raccoon is too old, too fragile, and too stubborn to teach you.  The old man looked over to the old raccoon and said,

“This raccoon is too young, too inexperience to catch a fish.  In fact, his front paws aren’t fully developed enough to catch anything.”

The old raccoon and the young raccoon both said,

“Can too!” and they both left to prove the old man wrong.

Two weeks had passed before the old man had heard from the old raccoon.  The old raccoon said to the old man,

“You’re right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m stubborn, sometimes.”

“Yes, that can either lead you to joy or take it away but old age can do neither,” said the old man.

Bright-eyed and Bushy-tailed

Published on by Eugene Morgan

Acorn Squirrel

Written by Eugene Morgan

The old man upon hearing the disturbing news about his friend paid a visit to his friend’s underground burrowed home.  The old man began hearing a fainted sound as he approached the burrow.  He looked down it and wondered what that sound could be.  As he lowered his head closer to the burrow’s hole, the sound became recognizable.

“Is that snoring I’m  hearing?” the old man asked himself.

A squirrel  heard and shouted, “Let me be! A coyote is going to eat me!”

The coyote is nowhere around,” the old man said, “and I can’t make you come out but I can leave you something to eat.”

So the old man left a trail of food and went on his way.   Long after the old man left, the ground squirrel resurfaced from his burrow to find acorns; a trail of them.  Being afraid, one by one, the squirrel took each acorn back to his burrow and return for the next one.  After that, he then realized he  had no way of getting back to his burrow because he had taken all the acorns that were left.  Too scared to look for the burrow, he decided to follow the remaining trail of acorns  in front of him.  The trail lead  him to the old man.

“A trail begins when a friend helps another friend find his way back,” the old man said.

Ericksonian Fable: The Hungry Lion

Published on by Eugene Morgan

Written By Eugene Morgan

An old man was in his garden, when a lion approached him and said,

“I’m going to eat you.”

“Oh?” asked surprisingly the old man, “I knew my death would be certain but not by you.”

“Then who were you expecting?” asked the lion.

“A large pack of spotted hyenas,” replied the old man, “I’m honored to die at the mouth of a lion—King of the Beasts! If you are going to kill me then make it swift and sure.  But you must be warned that after killing me, the spotted hyenas will smell a fresh scent of my flesh.  As you know the spotted hyenas will loot a lion’s kill.  Therefore, you will have to drag me for cover if you want to eat all of me.  So would you prefer a small part or the whole portion of me?” asked the old man.

“I would prefer the whole portion, but that seems unrealistic.  If I kill you here, I will run the risk of only eating a small portion of  you before the large pack of spotted hyenas arrive at the scene,” said the lion.

“That’s right!” said the old man.  Although you are the King of the Beasts, you’re in the hyenas’ territory.”

The old man curiously asked, “Don’t you smell the scent of the hyenas?”

“Not until you asked me, but I’m a  hungry lion.”

“Yes indeed you are but the hyenas smell the scent of you.  In fact, during our conversation, they’ve been watching you all the long waiting for you to kill.”

The old man suggested that the lion roar if he wanted to scare off the spotted hyenas, but the lion lost his appetite.  The old man asked, “how come?”

The lion said, “Somehow you left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Ericksonian Fable: The Barks Behind The Tree

Published on by Eugene Morgan
Fallow Deer
Taken at Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary in the New Forest this afternoon. Beautiful sunshine, amazing animals and a great time had by the whole family.
Written By Eugene Morgan

The old man heard faint barks amidst the forest.  He went into the forest to investigate.  Where he heard the barks, nothing was there.  So he left the forest, then later the barks started up again.  He  returned to the forest but found nothing.  This time the old man stayed in the area.  The barking sounds grew louder.  He took a peek through the tree branches and saw a very small and undernourished yellow deer.

The old man asked,

“Why do you cry out for your mother when she is not here?”

“I’m so weak and hungry,” replied the yellow deer.

“Food is all around you.  Twigs, leaves, flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees,” replied the old man, “all are ready to be eaten.  But you got to look for them.”

“I would like to graze grass,” replied the yellow deer.

“Winter months are before you.  I don’t see grass to be plucked.  Grass doesn’t grow well in the winter.”

“You don’t know how delicious twigs will be since you haven’t eaten any before.  I don’t thing the twigs are as delicious as the leaves.  If I were you I would try the twigs last.  Or if you’re going to try them first, then get them out-of-the-way so you can get to the good stuff.”

So the yellow deer tried the twigs first to say that “If the twigs taste this bad, then what is left to eat.”

“Grown-up deers eat them.  These leaves are as green as the grass you eat; try them maybe the taste is similar.

“Hmmmm these taste a lot better than the twigs,” replied the yellow deer.

“Have you ever had an acorn before?” asked the old man.

“No I haven’t,” replied the yellow deer, “this will be my first winter without grass.”

“I think acorns are second best to grass.  But acorns are very hard to come by because squirrels like to bury them and to dig them out later for winter months.  Not every falling acorn from a tree gets a chance to be buried under ground.  So lets find an acorn tree.”

Not only did the old man and the yellow deer find an acorn tree; but they also found the mother deer under the tree feeding.

The Magic Lamp

Published on by Eugene Morgan

Written by Eugene Morgan

A distraught wolf was running through village after village looking to find someone to relieve him from pain.  No one in the villages trusted the wolf enough to help him, not until he saw a crane with a long and thin beak.   “I’ll pay you any amount if you take the pain away,” said the wolf.  “Where’s the pain,” asked the crane.  “I’ve a piece of bone stuck between my two back molars that is causing the pain.  Please, would you pull out the bone with your long and thin beak,” asked the wolf.  “Yes I will, if you paid me first,” requested the crane.   “Don’t you know that I could eat you without a second thought,” said the wolf.  “After you pull out the bone, I’ll then pay you handsomely.”  So the crane placed his beak into the wolf’s mouth and pulled the bone out.  “Now pay me what’s owed to me,” insisted the crane. “I still have pain,” frustratingly said the wolf and left the crane without payment.

Since the wolf spared his life, the least the crane could do, is suggest to the wolf that he see the old man about his pain.  “The old man possesses the power to heal.  He uses a magic lamp to heal and comfort the sick and the dying.  He lives over those hills,” said the crane.  Later on that day, the old man heard something from behind.  Without looking, the old man said, “So you’re in a lot of pain and you want me to heal you with my magic lamp.”   “How did you know that it was me approaching you from behind without seeing who it was? And how did you know I was going to ask you to heal me,” curiously asked the wolf.   “It’s not important that you know how I know these things.  The important thing is to cure you of your pain,” said the old man.

So the old man took out his magic lamp and rubbed it a few times, and started looking intensely at the wolf.  “What if a lion had a piece of bone stuck inside his mouth and asked you to pull it out, how much pain would you feel,” asked the old man.  The wolf said,  “I wouldn’t feel any pain as I don’t right now.”  The magic lamp has healed me, rejoiced the wolf.   The old man threw the magic lamp behind him and then walked away.  The wolf asked the old man why did he throw away something that could heal.  The old man said, “It wasn’t the lamp that relieved you from pain.  The lamp doesn’t possess the power to heal.  Rubbing the lamp didn’t relieved you from the pain, it was what you did with the idea that relieved you from the pain,” explained the old man.

Ericksonian Fable: The Domesticated Camel

Published on by Eugene Morgan


Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Domesticated Camel

While traveling through a desert, an old man spotted a tamed camel. “My master abandoned me, “the camel cried, “I won’t survive the desert.”  After hearing this the old man took his saddle off the camel he was riding on and placed it on the abandoned camel’s back. “What are you doing,” the camel asked.  The old man replied, “You say you don’t have a master. I’ll be your master. “But you’re deserting your own camel,” the domesticated camel stated.  The old man said, “No, I don’t own this camel.

The old man jumped on the camel’s back and yelled, “Go towards the sun!” After traveling a ways the old man cried, “I’m thirsty!  Would you like a drink of water?”  “I’m not thirsty,” the camel answered. So the old man took a drink.  After a while the old man said, “I’m thirsty! Would you like some water?”  Again, the camel said, “No!”  So the old man took another drink of water.

Later, the camel and the old man had dinner and called it a night. The temperature began dropping.  The old man was asleep when his trembled body had awakened him from the bitter cold. “My fur keeps me warm on cold nights like this,” the camel said, “If you like, you can lie next to me.”  The old man took his offer.

After a sound sleep, the early morning sun had awakened the camel and the old man. “You would have found me dead but because of your warm fur I am alive. Thank you.”

Just after they were about to continue on west, a desert sandstorm erupted. What was in front of him, the old man could no longer see but the sand storm. “Get behind me!” the camel yelled.  “That way you will be protected.  My long eyelashes and ear hairs will protect me from the sandstorm.”  The old man was very grateful for this and thanked the camel.

After a long journey, the old man said, “I have reached my destination.” He took his saddle off the camel’s back. “Are you deserting me too?” asked the camel.  “I’ve saved your life!” the camel cried. “The desert heat, the desert cold, the desert sandstorm-these are events from which you saved me,” the old man replied, “so you don’t need a master.  The master of the desert is you, not me.”

In this above story the domesticated camel was blinded by his belief that he could not live on his own without his master.  His belief was like a tether.  He could only go as far as the boundary of his belief that he can only enter the desert unless his master was directing him.  So the old man decided to take this journey in the desert with this camel.   Because the domesticated camel needed proof that he could rely on himself.   The old man understood that physically that he could not survive in the desert alone but he knew the camel could.   Although, camel’s natural habitat is the desert, he needed proof that this was true.  The camel needed to experience this first hand.  While the camel and old man traveled through the desert, the old man encountered thirst, high temperature during the day, and cold temperature during the night and the sandstorm during the morning.  But these things did not faze the camel.  This is the point the old man wanted the camel to understand.  The camel took it for granted his capacities or his unused capacities.  His belief tether his understanding until the old man said in the punch line of the story, “The desert heat, the desert cold, the desert sandstorm-these are events from which you saved me.  So you don’t need a master-the master of the desert is you, not me.”

You have a lifetime of learnings and experiences that you automatically send to your unconscious mind.  The problem is that you leave these unused acquired capacities and latent potentials in the background of your mind.  Instead Milton Erickson has learned to bring these unused capacities and latent potentials to the foreground as resources to help patients and students cope with their daily realities.