The Wolf and the Lamb

From “Fables”

DRIVEN by thirst, a wolf and a lamb had come to the same stream; the wolf stood above, and the lamb at a distance below. Then, the spoiler, prompted by a ravenous maw, invented a pretext for a quarrel. “Why,” said he, “do you make the water muddy for me while I am drinking?” The fleece-bearer, trembling, answered, “Prithee, wolf, how can I do what you complain of? The water is flowing downward from you to where I am drinking.” The other, disconcerted by the force of truth, exclaimed, “Six months ago you slandered me!” “Indeed,” answered the lamb, “I was not born then.” “By Hercules,” said the wolf, “then it was your father slandered me!” And so, snatching him up, he tore him to pieces, killing him unjustly.

This fable is applicable to those men who oppress the innocent under false pretenses.

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