Similarities Between El Grillo Y El Jaguar And The Hero In The Village

The fables “El Grillo y el Jaguar” and “The Hero in the Village” both contain similar messages of cleverness and justice. The former is a Mexican fable about an unkind jaguar who challenges a singing cricket to a race. On the other hand, the latter Bolivian fable is about a hard-working burro who is blamed for eating his master’s garden every night, but the true culprit is a group of sly foxes. Both the cricket and the burro cleverly defeat their antagonists, however. While each encloses differences, also, these fables have many resemblances in characters and themes.
In the fables, the protagonists must face against their enemies. “El Grillo y el Jaguar” has the cricket opposing the jaguar, while the donkey is against the foxes in “The Hero

in the Village.” During the Mexican fable, the jaguar is the king of the world, and the cricket offends the jaguar with his singing and when he does not greet him. The “king” sees the cricket as lower and challenges him to a race. If the jaguar wins, the cricket can no longer sing; but if the cricket wins, the jaguar must accept his apology and he can continue singing. The grillo tricks the jaguar and wins the race by riding on top of his head and jumping off before the jaguar noticed. In the Bolivian fable, the burro is abused by his owner for destroying the garden. However, a group of foxes are actually eating and ruining the crops. They see the burro as below them, much like how the jaguar lacks respect for the cricket. On the other hand, the donkey is as clever as the cricket. He pretends to be dead, and when the foxes drag him to their home with a rope, he attacks them with the rope. When he arrives home, the burro’s owner beats the cruel foxes for the ruined garden. The burro is then praised for his cunning plan. Because of their lack of respect and sense of superiority, the foxes and the jaguar are similar; while the cricket and burro share a clever nature.
Although they are alike, the two fables do have differences. The foxes manipulate and cause the burro’s abuse, while the jaguar does no physical or psychological harm to the cricket. While the cricket lives simply and contently, the burro undergoes difficult work every day with little to no reward. The setting is also very different in both stories. In “El Grillo y el Jaguar,” animals solely occupy the world, but in the other fable, humans exist and control some animals. The theme of each also differs slightly, as the burro is more motivated by revenge against the foxes, while the cricket just wants to continue singing. With these differences, each fable can stand as its own lesson and moral.
When reading fables, the lessons are noticeable. The reason behind this is because of the opposing characters. There must be a “good” character versus a “bad” character. Without them, the fable loses meaning. In ““The Hero in the Village,” the burro would never have stood up for himself without the foxes as the villains. The jaguar would also still believe that every creature feared him if the cricket had never won the race. If these fables lacked contrasting forces, the teachings inside them would be gone forever.