The Cub by Nicholas Squirreliavelli

Working on a writing project with my daughter Sophie, presenting philosophy in an animal story with animalized versions of key philosophical works interspersed. Here is our first draft of The Prince, aka, "The Cub."

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The Cub

It is hard to become a lion king and even harder to stay one. In the old days, your dad might be a king and then you would become one. The people were used to your dad. It was easier.

Of course there often were sneaky lions wanting to overthrow you. They play to the animals who are unhappy. You have to smash anyone who gets too powerful. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

This is even more important when you come to power and you have not inherited it. Smash all those who might compete with you immediately. Be vicious. Eliminate anyone who might oppose you. It is much better to do it all at once than to trickle out the elimination of your enemies. Never do an enemy a small injury. Make it so severe that you never need fear revenge.

You have to be both a lion and a fox. When you are powerful enough to crush your enemies by force, destroy them like a lion kills a wolf. But sometimes the clever lay traps for you and you have to be sneaky to defeat them. In such cases, outsmart them like a fox. Never attempt to win by force what you can win by deception.

To be a fox is to lie. The world is full of bad animals. If the world were only full of good animals, the cub could always be good. But because the world has so much bad, the cub must sometimes pretend to be good while doing bad things to those who oppose him or her. Otherwise the truly bad will destroy you. When brutality is the only option, it is holy.

The end justifies the means. Promise what you must now in the present then take it back when you need to in the future. It is better to act and repent than to regret not having acted. Keep your true plans secret while portraying yourself as only true and virtuous in public.

It is much safer to be feared than to be loved. Certainly, it is dangerous if the animals of your kingdom hate you. But they do not have to love you. It is best if they fear but do not hate you.

There will always be animals outside your kingdom that want to defeat you. A cub must thus always be preparing for war. The art of war must always be on his or her mind. Hunt on your territory to prepare yourself. That war is just that is necessary for you to prevail. You cannot avoid war. Postponing only gives the advantage to your enemy.

Let your administrators do unpopular things for you. Make strong statements against the enemies of your kingdom to stir up the spirit of your people. Perhaps even invent enemies and destroy them to win favor. Speak strongly in favor of your friends and allies. Put them in your debt so that they will strongly support you.

Get some animals to tell you the truth, but only when you ask for it. Your animals should only tell you what you want to hear when you want to hear it. But it is important to ask for what they think is true from time to time and to listen. But you must always be in charge of what they tell you.

Many believe that the world is only governed by chance or God. That’s half of it to be sure. But your choices are the other half. God or chance may be half of what happens, but that gives half the governance to you. Use it wisely.