The Lamb and The Wolf
Once there was a naughty lamb. His mother always loved her child so much that she worried about the safety of the child. His mother always warned him, “Be careful! You must not go into the forest. Wild animals live in there. They may threaten you. Sometimes they would eat you.” But the mischievous lamb never listened. The lamb casually went into the forest and played there for a long time till it turned dark in the evening.
One day, as usual the lamb wandered far off into the forest. There he saw a spring. “I am thirsty. Let me drink some water,” he thought. He decided to take water from the spring for his thirsty. While the lamb was drinking water in the spring, a wolf watched from behind a tree.
“A lamb! My lucky day!” the wolf thought, approaching the lamb. The lamb was not aware of the wolf for some time. There was no one besides these two animals to save the lamb from the wolf.
“You know this forest belongs only to wild animals like me. Why have you come in here to take water from this spring?” asked the wolf.
The lamb knew that wolves were dangerous animals. “Mother has warned me about wolves. I am sure this fellow wants to eat me for his lunch. This fellow is ferocious. I must escape from this animal,” he thought.
The wolf continued, “You are also dirtying water. How will I drink this polluted water now?”
“But the spring flows from where you are standing down to where I am standing, Sir!” said the lamb, in a meek voice. The wolf was surprised to hear such an intelligent answer from the lamb. But the wolf was just looking for an excuse to kill the lamb. “How dare you argue with me? I think you are the same lamb who had abused me last year,” the wolf shouted.
“Last year? Bur Sir, I was not even born then!” the lamb squeaked. The lamb feared that the wolf was looking after a pretext to kill the lamb. The lamb became cautious of its words and gestures. This way both the lamb and the wolf talked to each other cautiously.
The lamb heard some woodcutters. They were coming the way in which the lamb and the wolf were standing. “”If I can keep talking to this wolf for a little while longer, the woodcutters will be here. They will chase him away,” thought the clever lamb. So, he said, “Mr. Wolf, you are right. I have dirtied the water. But, I did not mean to upset you.”
This way the lamb kept on talking for few more minutes. As the lamb spoke, the woodcutters arrived. They saw both the lamb and the wolf.
They caught the wolf and beat him before letting him go. The lamb was relieved to be safe. He ran back to his mother. He told her his mother what had happened in the forest with the wolf and the woodcutter. And then he promised his mother never to wander into the forest again.
