The Wolf and the Crane
The
Wolf and the Crane
A Wolf had been gorging
on an animal he had killed, when suddenly a small bone in the meat stuck in his
throat and he could not swallow it. He soon felt a terrible pain in his throat,
and ran up and down groaning and groaning and seeking for something to relieve
the pain. He tried to induce every one he met to remove the bone. “I would give
anything,” said he, “if you would take it out.” At last the Crane agreed to
try, and told the Wolf to lie on his side and open his jaws as wide as he
could. Then the Crane put its long neck down the Wolf’s throat, and with its
beak loosened the bone, till at last it got it out. “Will you kindly give me
the reward you promised?” said the Crane. The Wolf grinned and showed his teeth
and said: “Be content. You have put your head inside a Wolf’s mouth and taken
it out again in safety; that ought to be reward enough for you.” Gratitude and
greed go not together.
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