348.The Wolf, the Fox, and the Ape
A WOLF accused a fox of theft, but the fox entirely denied the charge. An ape undertook to judge the matter between them. When each had fully stated his case the ape announced this sentence:
“I don’t think you, wolf, ever lost what you claim; and I do believe you, Fox, to have stolen what you so stoutly deny.”
❖ The dishonest, if they act honestly, get no credit.
347.The Wolf killed by the Lion
ROAMING BY the mountainside at sundown, a wolf saw his own shadow become greatly extended and magnified, and he said to himself, “Why should I, being of such an immense size and extending nearly an acre in length, be afraid of the lion? Ought I not to be acknowledged as King of all the collected beasts?”
While he was indulging in these proud thoughts, a lion fell on him and killed him. He exclaimed with a too late repentance, “Wretched me! this overestimation of myself is the cause of my destruction.”
❖ Overestimation is the cause of destruction.
346.The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
ONCE ON A TIME a wolf resolved to disguise his appearance in order to secure food more easily. Encased in the skin of a sheep, he pastured with the flock deceiving the shepherd by his costume. In the evening he was shut up by the shepherd in the fold; the gate was closed, and the entrance made thoroughly secure. But the shepherd, returning to the fold during the night to get meat for the next day, mistakenly caught up the wolf instead of a sheep, and killed him instantly.
❖ Harm seek, harm find.
❖ Risk-taking may be dangerous.
345.The Wolf and the Shepherd
A WOLF followed a flock of sheep for a long time and did not attempt to injure one of them. The shepherd at first stood on his guard against him, as against an enemy, and kept a strict watch over his movements. But when the wolf, day after day, kept in the company of the sheep and did not make the slightest effort to seize them, the shepherd began to look on him as a guardian of his flock rather than as a plotter of evil against it; and when occasion called him one day into the city, he left the sheep entirely in his charge. The wolf, now that he had the opportunity, fell on the sheep, and destroyed the greater part of the flock. When the shepherd returned to find his flock destroyed, he exclaimed:
“I have been rightly served; why did I trust my sheep to a wolf?”
❖ Don’t trust your sheep to the wolf.
