The peacelike mongoose

The fable „The peacelike mongoose“ of James Thurber is about a mongoose who does not want to fight against cobras like it’s tradition r even law in Mongoosia He does not understand why he should kill cobras. Because he wants to use reason and intelligence he is the only mongoose who asks this question. The others say that the mongoose is strange, pro-cobra and ant-mongoose. Because they have never seen such a peacelike mongoose, they are afraid of him and call him crazy, sick or even mongoosexual. There is no evidence of the things the others say accuse the peacelike mongoose of, there is only rumor, spread by mongooses some of whom have not even seen the peacelike mongoose. They say that he wants to overthrow Mongoosia violently because he uses reason, like the enemy. The rumor is so strong that they finally convict and condemn him to banishment. They are probably afraid of somebody who is different, who has other ideas because that forces them to think about their own values, traditions and they might be afraid of having to admit, that they are wrong and must change their life. They are weak, perhaps jealous of the new, strong, self-confident and peacelike mongoose who does not care about the others. So they unite and turn against him, which makes them feel strong and right. The others seem to be less intelligent, so they say that intelligence is something bad. So they are irrational, emotional and intolerant. In order to feel good they banish the peacelike mongoose who in the end becomes a scapegoat they can vent their frustrations on.