340.The Wolf and the Horse
A WOLF coming out of a field of oats met a horse and thus addressed him:
“I would advise you to go into that field. It is full of fine oats, which I have left touched for you, as you are a friend whom I would love to hear enjoying good eating.”
The horse replied,
“If oats had been the food of wolves, you would never have indulged your ears at the cost of your belly.”
❖ Men of evil reputation, when they perform a good deed, may not get full credit for it.
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.”
❖ In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.
