The Wolf Who Learned to Read
Once upon a time, in the heart of a deep forest where cool waters flowed, there lived a greedy but very curious wolf. When this wolf saw that the wise owl of the forest was teaching the other animals to read, he took a great fancy to the alphabet. His aim was not to learn knowledge, but to know reading so that he could easily deceive weak prey and snatch them. One morning he went beneath the oak tree with silver leaves and told the owl that he wished to take lessons from him. Though the wise owl suspected the wolf's intention, he did not turn the pupil away and set the wooden tablet before him. When the owl pointed at the first letter and said "A", the wolf cried out impatiently, "A delicious lamb with a white head!" When the teacher shook his head sadly and showed the letter "B", the wolf licked his lips with appetite and answered, "Big fattened goat!"
However hard they tried, the wolf's mind was not on the letters but only on his stomach. Just then a clever donkey wandering in the forest watched this funny effort of the wolf from afar. The donkey came up to the wolf at once and told him that he could help him with his lesson. The wolf asked with a mocking air, "What do you understand about letters?" The donkey said in a perfectly calm voice, "On my hind horseshoe a priceless seal is written." The wolf, who wanted to boast of the reading he had just begun to learn, immediately agreed to read this mysterious writing. Approaching the donkey's hind leg with curiosity, the wolf focused carefully on the faint lines carved into the hoof.
While the wolf was trying to make out the letters, the donkey with a sudden movement planted a kick on the wolf's jaw. The unlucky wolf, bewildered by what had struck him, went tumbling into the nearby bushes. Holding his swollen nose and his aching jaw, the wolf grasped the truth through a bitter experience. He understood that learning knowledge requires a deeper virtue than brute force or trickery. The cunning hunter, having paid his penalty, quietly vanished from sight towards the depths of the forest. Whoever pursues knowledge with evil intent becomes in the end the victim of his own ignorance. As the intention is, so is the fortune.