Horace Elisha Scudder

The Wolf and the Crane

A Wolf once had a bone stuck in his throat, and offered the Crane a large reward if she would thrust her head down and draw the bone out. She did so, and claimed the reward. At that, the Wolf set up a laugh, and showed his teeth: "Isn’t it enough for you," he said, "to have this, and nothing else, that you have drawn your head safely out of the jaws of the Wolf?"

The story points at crafty men, who, when they are rid of danger, offer this to their benefactors for thanks, that they did them no injury.