Two of Wands - The Fox & The Stork

[fire cat pickles]

 

The Fox & The Stork 

Moral: "Do not play tricks on your neighbors unless you can stand the same treatment yourself."

 

In my opinion, this is the most apparent of the the Fables that map onto the cards. In the story, the Stork serves the Fox a fish dinner in "a tall tall jar with a very narrow neck" after the Fox had given him soup "in a very shallow dish, and all the Stork could do was to wet the very tip of his bill." The Fox could literally dish it out but could not take it, in our modern parlance. 

 

The two Wands are equal, yet unequal: a paradox.

 

My question is, who or what is the figure with the quill at the top of the card? Is it the author, Aesop?