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The
fox and the tail
A
reference to one of Aesop's fables, in which a fox loses her tail to a
trap. The fox then tries to convince other foxes that they should remove
their tails likewise, having deemed tails unnecessary now that she lacks
one herself. The title of Chapter 46 is an allusion to this story, and
there are references to it within the chapter as well. This is the
chapter in which Mary comes to find out about her inheritance, and thus
she "finds a tail," unlike the fox in the story. Mary compares herself and
her uncle to the fox in the fable, suggesting that maybe they only disdain
wealth in others because they lack it themselves. Dr. Thorne in turn
wonders if he and Mary, should they suddenly find themselves wealthy,
would not be as boastful of their newfound money as the fox would be of a
tail. Trollope asserts that all people are foxes looking for tails, i.e.
wealth, either honestly or not; all foxes, says Trollope, would be happy
to find a tail, no matter how much they may have despised or pretended to
despise them before.
www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica [JM] |
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How
the drop of water hollows the stone
Referencing Ovid, Gutta cavat lapidem, "a drop hollows a stone" (Epistulae
Ex Ponto 4.10.5). Frank Gresham persuades his father to a sort of
implicit consent, not by one eloquent speech, but by often repeating his
appeals, thus his father is persuaded not all at once, but rather over
time, bit by bit. [JM] |