One hot sultry day, a Wolf and a Lamb happened to come just at the
same time, to quench their thirst in the stream of a brook that fell
tumbling down the side of a rocky mountain. The Wolf stood upon the
higher ground, and the Lamb at some distance below him. However, the
Wolf, having a mind to pick a quarrel with the Lamb, asked him what he
meant by disturbing the water, and making it so muddy that he could
not drink? and, at the same time, demanded satisfaction. The Lamb,
frightened at this threatening charge, told him, in a tone as mild as
possible, that with humble submission, he could not conceive how that
could be, since the water which he drank ran down from the Wolf to him,
and therefore could not be disturbed so far up the stream. Be that as
it may, replies the Wolf, you are a rascal, and I have been told that
you used ill language concerning me behind my back, about half a year
ago. Upon my word, says the Lamb, the time you mention was before I was
born. The Wolf, finding it to no purpose to argue any longer against
truth, fell into a great passion, snarling and foaming at the mouth as
if he had been mad; and drawing nearer to the Lamb, Sirrah, says he, if
it were not you, it was your father, and that is the same. So he seized
the poor innocent helpless thing, tore it to pieces, and made a meal of
it.