Aesop's Fables : The Wolf and the Lamb

The Wolf and the Lamb

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside,when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning todrink a little lower down."There's my supper," thought he, "ifonly I can find some excuse to seize it."Then he called out tothe Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I amdrinking?"

"Nay, master, nay," said Lambikin; "if the water be muddy upthere, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you tome."

"Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad namesthis time last year?"

"That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old."

"I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it wasyour father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamband ate her all up.But before she died she gasped out:

"Any excuse will serve a tyrant."