'The Wolf and the Crane', an illustration by John Vernon Lord
in Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989, page 85.
The Text:
The Wolf and the
Crane
A Wolf, after devouring his prey,
happened to have a bone stick in his throat, which gave him so much pain, that
he went up howling up and down, and importuning every creature he met to lend
him a kind hand in order to his relief; nay he promised a reasonable reward to
anyone who should perform the operation with success. At last, the Crane
undertook the business, ventured his long neck into the rapacious felon’s throat,
plucked out the bone, and asked for the promised reward. The Wolf, turning his
eyes disdainfully towards him, said, I did not think you had been so
unconscionable: I had your head in my mouth, and could have bit it off whenever
I pleased, but suffered you to take it away without any damage, and yet you are
not contented.
Moral: Do not expect gratitude for doing a good turn
to a tyrant but consider that being left alone is reward enough.
Text: Thomas Bewick (p155, 1818).
Selected Parallels: Babrius 94. Caxton, Romulus 1/8. La Fontaine
5/8. L’Estrange 8. Chambry 224. Perry 156. TMI W154.3.
A Heron is preferred to a Crane in many translations of
the fable.
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