An alternative parable in place of the one you propose in your editorial ('Peace riddle', #309) might be the story of the frog and the scorpion. The scorpion convinces the frog to take him across the pond, even though the frog is deeply suspicious of the scorpion's intent.

Halfway across the pond, the scorpion stings, and when the dying frog looks up at him with a bewildered look, the scorpion says, "What can I say, it's in my nature." Both die. We all know who the scorpion is.

SB Shrestha,
via email

. Last week's editorial ('Peace riddle', #309) presented the real deadlock between the Maoists and the seven-party government starkly with the apt analogy of the farmer, the grass, the goat, and the tiger. The deadlock is a crisis of confidence that was clearly exposed by the two side's differences on managing their two armed forces. The blueprint offered by CK Lal ('The elusive formula', State of the State, #309) seems plausible, if not complete.

Prakash Pangeni,
via email