The Wolf and the Lamb, by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755).
The Wolf and the Lamb, by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755). Jawaharlal Nehru invoked this Fable when talking about the way that Great Powers — chiefly the British Empire but also the French Republic, the United States of America and the Russian Empire — bullied Imperial China in the 1840 and 1850s. After the Second World War, this humiliation brought down China’s imperial government and propelled into its place a totalitarian Communist government who grip remained tight for decades.
A HUNGRY Wolf one day saw a Lamb drinking at a stream, and wished to frame some plausible excuse for making him his prey. “What do mean” fiercely said he to the Lamb “by muddling the water I am going to drink?”
“Pray forgive me,” meekly answered the Lamb; “I should be sorry in any way to displease you, but as the stream runs from you towards me, you will see that such cannot be the case.”
“That’s all very well,” said the Wolf; “but you know you spoke ill of me behind my back a year ago.”
“Nay, believe me,” replied the Lamb, “I was not then born.”
“It must have been your brother then,” growled the Wolf.
“It cannot have been, for I never had any,” answered the Lamb.
“I know it was one of your lot,” rejoined the Wolf, “so make no more such idle excuses.”
He then seized the poor Lamb, carried him off to the woods, and ate him.
Précis
In this Aesop’s fable, a Wolf minded to eat up a harmless Lamb feels the need to justify so barbarous a deed. He therefore concocts a series of imaginary grievances to ease his conscience, each of which the Lamb gently but firmly rebuts. At last, the Wolf simply eats him, as he had always intended to do. (57 / 60 words)
