Category Archives: GREECE
339.The Wolf and the Goat
A WOLF saw a goat feeding at the summit of a steep precipice, where he had no chance of reaching her. He called to her and earnestly begged her to come lower down, lest she fall by some mishap; and he added that the meadows lay where he was standing, and that the herbage was most tender. She replied,
“No, my friend, it is not for the pasture that you invite me, but for yourself, who are in want of food.”
338.The Wolf and the Fox
AT ONE TIME a very large and strong Wolf was born among the wolves, who exceeded all his fellow-wolves in strength, size, and swiftness, so that they unanimously decided to call him “Lion.”
The wolf, with a lack of sense proportioned to his enormous size, thought that they gave him this name in earnest, and, leaving his own race, consorted exclusively with the lions. An old sly Fox, seeing this, said,
“May I never make myself so ridiculous as you do in your pride and self-conceit; for even though you have the size of a lion among wolves, in a herd of lions you are definitely a wolf.”
337.The Wolf and the Crane
A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed:
“Why, you have surely already had a enough recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf.”
âť– In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.
336.The Wild Boar and the Fox
A WILD BOAR stood under a tree and rubbed his tusks against the trunk. A fox passing by asked him why he thus sharpened his teeth when there was no danger threatening from either huntsman or hound. He replied,
“I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them.”
âť– In fair weather prepare for foul.
