<< Home Page | Oxford (Gibbs) Index

Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

356. THE KID, THE WOLF AND THE FLUTE
Perry 97 (Chambry 107 *)

A kid had wandered off from the flock and was being chased by a wolf. Unable to get away, the kid fell into the wolf's clutches so she turned to him and said, 'I know for a fact that I am about to become your dinner, but I would like to die with dignity: please play the flute for me so that I can do a little dance.' The wolf played the flute and the kid danced to the music. The sound alerted the shepherd's dogs who attacked the wolf and chased him away. As the wolf ran off he said to himself, 'It serves me right for trying to be a musician instead of a butcher!'
The story shows that being bested in a contest of words can induce bewilderment even in persons who are wicked by nature.

Note: For a similar fable about a foolish wolf who acts like a doctor instead of a butcher, see Fable 312.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.