The story is used as a warning against listening to flattery. Usually, fables use fictional stories and characters to teach us a moral lesson. “The Fox and The Crow” teaches us a moral lesson about flattery.
I think it is B) It raises the tension in the story by delaying Malik's decision about whether or not to swim in the final race of the meet. Malik couldn't previously hurt his ankle thus making a conflict of if he could be able to swim or not.
