The Naïve Wolf

[This is an Indian fable]

The moon was high up, and a wolf wasn’t happy about it. The wolf was almost furious. He was edgy. Where had all the preys gone? No food. And his wife was waiting at home.

His shadows long on the ground, the wolf proceeded out of the woods cautiously and onto a clearing, where a farmer’s wooden house stood. The wolf wandered around the backyard, hoping to find some food when he heard a girl sobbing.

There came an older woman’s voice, “Stop crying or I shall let the wolf in to eat you!” The old woman didn’t sound like she was simply trying to scare the girl. Her voice was shaking the whole house.

More sobbing. The wolf was delighted. It seemed he was going to have his dinner after all, so the wolf waited.

Midnight came. The sobbing hadn’t stopped, and the wolf was still feeling excited about his dinner despite the hopeless passage of time. Soon the sobbing died down to soft hiccups.

The old woman’s voice was back, “Good girl. Now if the wolf comes, I’ll kill it.” She coaxed the little girl.

The wolf stopped pacing and jerked up in fear, not believing what he’d heard. Anger started boiling in his stomach, but he composed himself and escaped back into the woods, taking the old woman’s words for real. He felt betrayed, and he certainly was not happy about the long wait.

His wife was fast to notice his crossed look when he came home to their cave. “What happened? You look drained and pissed off. And what took you so long to come back?”

“I don’t even want to start on this! I’d been cheated by a wicked old woman!”

Moral: Learn to understand the true meaning behind what people say.

A/N : I'm writing this because I find it really could apply to our life. We should expect less from people and all. :)