The Wolf and the Lamb

O NE day a Wolf and a Lamb happened to come at the same time to drink from a brook that ran down the side of the mountain.

The Wolf wished very much to eat the Lamb, but meeting her as he did, face to face, he thought he must find some excuse for doing so.

So he began by trying to pick a quarrel, and said angrily: "How dare you come to my brook and muddy the water so that I cannot drink it? What do you mean?"

The Lamb, very much alarmed, said gently: I do not see how it can be that I have spoiled the water. You stand higher up the stream, and the water runs from you to me, not from me to you."

"Be that as it may," said the Wolf, with a snarl, "you are a rascal all the same, for I have heard that last year you said bad things of me behind my back."

"Dear Mr. Wolf, "cried the poor Lamb, "that could not be, for a year ago I was not born; I am only six months old."

Finding it of no use to argue any more, the Wolf began to snarl and show his teeth. Coming closer to the Lamb, he said, "You little wretch, if it was not you it was your father, so it's all the same"; and he pounced upon the poor Lamb and ate her up.