A Wolf had been feasting too greedily, and a bone had stuck
crosswise in his throat. He could get it neither up nor down, and
of course he could not eat a thing. Naturally that was an awful
state of affairs for a greedy Wolf.
So away he hurried to the Crane. He was sure that she, with her
long neck and bill, would easily be able to reach the bone and
pull it out.
"I will reward you very handsomely," said the Wolf, "if you pull
that bone out for me."
The Crane, as you can imagine, was very uneasy about putting her
head in a Wolf's throat. But she was grasping in nature, so she
did what the Wolf asked her to do.
[Illustration]
When the Wolf felt that the bone was gone, he started to walk
away.
"But what about my reward!" called the Crane anxiously.
"What!" snarled the Wolf, whirling around. "Haven't you got it?
Isn't it enough that I let you take your head out of my mouth
without snapping it off?"
_Expect no reward for serving the wicked._
[Illustration]