Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?
Proverbs 17:16
Two foxes sat in the market each day.
The other animals called them young Felix and old Felix, because in the tradition of their family, the old fox had passed his name to his son, and his son to his son afterwards. And so, young Felix came each day to sit with his grandfather at his market stall and watch the other animals go by as old Felix hawked his wares.
One day, young Felix had his eye on a badger. He had seen him before a few times, and always he went to the same stall. The bookstall. There at the stall, he would hem and haw. Picking up books, leafing through, setting them down, thinking, picking them up again. Rifling through stacks and considering. Then he would hand over a few coins in exchange for a few books and leave for another week.
That morning, the badger left with an encyclopedia and several novels.
"That badger must be one of the wisest creatures in this wood, he has so many books." Said young Felix to old Felix.
"Hmmm," said his grandfather, who was a fox of few words.
The next week, the badger returned and after his usual hemming and hawing, he left with a foreign phrasebook, two dictionaries and four novels.
"Imagine how much he must learn from all those books," said young Felix to old Felix.
"Hah!" Snorted his grandfather.
Felix was puzzled. His grandfather loved books, and had a splendid library of well-worn tomes. And yet he seemed unimpressed by the badger's buying habits. So next week Felix watched closer.
The badger arrived and went to the bookstall. He made a few selections quickly and then picked up his last book, turning it in his hands, peering closely before nodding and handing it to the stallkeeper. As he did, young Felix was astounded to see that he had been holding the book completely upside down!
"Grandfather!" he exclaimed. "That…"
The old fox smiled.
"Yes, Felix. That badger can't read."
"But he buys so many books…"
"Some animals always want to take the easy road Felix. Spending coin to collect wisdom is easy, but working to understand it is hard. He lacks the sense to see that all he's doing is cluttering his shelves."