The Wolf and the Young Goat

A young goat had wandered away from his herd and stopped by a riverbank to drink water. At that same moment, a hungry wolf arrived, delighted at the sight of an easy meal standing right before him.

The wolf thought it would seem improper to attack without some excuse, so he began searching for a fault to accuse the goat of. He said to the young goat, who was drinking from the upper part of the stream, "You're muddying the water I drink downstream!"

The young goat replied cleverly, "Sir, how could that be possible? Water flows from upstream to downstream, and I am above you while you are below. My water cannot possibly be reaching and dirtying yours."

Slightly irritated by this clever response, the wolf searched for another excuse. "Last year," he snarled, "you spoke ill of me behind my back!" The young goat replied with surprise, "Sir, last year I hadn't even been born yet. I'm only a few months old. How could I possibly have said anything about you?"

Each time, the wolf's accusations were defeated by the goat's clever and reasonable answers, but his hunger and wicked intent never wavered. Finally, losing patience, the wolf snarled, "Well then, it must have been your father who spoke ill of me. Either way, I'm not letting you go without a meal!"

With that, the wolf lunged at the young goat. The terrified kid ran for his life with all the speed he could muster, and after a desperate chase, he managed to reach his herd just in time. Seeing the larger goats and the herd's guard dogs, the wolf grew frightened and fled, abandoning the chase.

Moral: Those who already harbor ill intentions will always search for some excuse to justify their actions. In such situations, clever thinking to buy time and fleeing to safety is often the wisest course of action.