One That Didn't Make It

Here is a story, which I wrote sometime in 1996 when I first thought of writing the Life of Aesop. (www.lulu.com/content/344881) Till I had the book in its final form there were too many, more stories than I could have possibly used. In order to achieve a smooth flow of narration I discarded many. So here is one such piece of Aesopiana.

AN UNEQUAL CLASS WAR.

Agabus, a fellow slave who was older, could not understand Aesop. He had a number of hangers-on. One day he called the young slave aside and said: "We have been watching you from the time you joined us. Must you show so much enthusiasm to serve the master? Slaves cannot run with other slaves and hunt with masters as well."
"Is my loyalty in question here?" Aesop asked him.
"We slaves need to stand together. Any slave who wavers, is a chink in our armor. Understand? Master should not be able to see through our weak spots." Agabus explained.
"You have got it all wrong." Aesop said. "What covers our weak spots are our replacements. What with a great army of slaves ready to fill in our shoes, the master need only look at our works to know whom to blame."
* It is an unfortunate condition of the class struggle that money could lose in value; but labor cannot afford to.
benny