There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
etc etc
I imagine my readers will know the above ditty, which continues on with the woman swallowing a succession of ever-larger animals until a horse finishes her off. The original problem she faces is real, but the course of action, though seemingly logical, is unlikely to solve the problem, indeed it is very likely to create a worse problem. Her best bet would be to do nothing, and let things take their own course. The problem will probably resolve itself without her intervention.
However, having embarked on her strategy, meeting with more misfortune, she decides to push on with more radical action. If something needed to be done with regard to the fly, how much more urgent is action now that the spider is loose?
This rhyme comes to me when I consider state intervention. Whatever the case in point, we are usually somewhere around the old-woman-swallowing-a-goat stage, in other words far down a road that should never have been taken, for reasons that were clear at the time and are even clearer now. But, cry the interventionists, we must do something. This woman needs help. There's a goat on the rampage inside her belly. The experts agree. Public opinion demands. So bring the cow.
Later, when she is dead, horses hooves protruding from her bloated, ruptured torso, the interventionists will blame us for standing in the way as they led up the camel.
Haven't you ever seen a horse fly? (one of my father's favourite 'jokes')
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