The Sheep's Complaint Against the Wolf
Once upon a time, beyond the green valleys, there was a just forest kingdom where every living creature lived in peace. At the head of the fold of white lambs, the gentlest dwellers of that fair land, there lived a wise and brave sheep. Yet the cunning and cruel wolf who hid behind the shadows spread constant fear among the innocent grazing flock. Despite all the peaceful warnings of the sheep, the wolf never gave up seizing the bounty of the meadow by force. The helpless innocent sheep at last decided to go to the wise lion who presided over the court of justice, so that justice might be done. Coming before the noble lion, the brave sheep told one by one the wrongs it had suffered, in a voice that carried a deep sorrow.
"O just ruler of the forest, this cruel wolf does not merely steal our daily bread; he threatens our very lives," it cried. The cunning wolf, trying to hide his own guilt, at once sprang forward and began his defence with a sly and honeyed tongue. "My noble king, these claims are entirely groundless; I was only walking quietly on the path that is my own right," said the wolf. The wolf slyly claimed that the sheep was accusing him unjustly and that he himself was the real victim. The other animals present at the court were struck with amazement at this brazen manner of the wolf and began to whisper among themselves. But the wise lion, looking into the eyes of the wolf with his keen gaze, at once sensed and grasped the dark intent behind the lie.
The just king, wishing to bring out the truth, required both parties to summon their witnesses before the court. The old crow and the aged fox who grazed in the meadow bravely declared that they had witnessed with their own eyes the torments the wolf had inflicted on the sheep. The cruel wolf, his lie wholly exposed, was forced to bow his head in shame before the tribunal. The wise lion, with a roar, decreed that the wolf be driven from the forest and that the harm done to the sheep be made good. With justice thus done, all the innocent animals of the forest drew a deep and easy breath. Justice, standing beside the one who is in the right, brings the trick and the tyranny of the oppressor to nothing in the end. The candle of the liar burns only until the evening prayer.