A WOLF followed a flock of sheep for a long time and did not attempt to injure one of them. The Shepherd at first stood on his guard against him, as against an enemy, and kept a strict watch over his movements. But when the Wolf, day after day, kept in the company of the sheep and did not make the slightest effort to seize them, the Shepherd began to look upon him as a guardian of his flock rather than as a plotter of evil against it; and when occasion called him one day into the city, he left the sheep entirely in his charge. The Wolf, now that he had the opportunity, fell upon the sheep, and destroyed the greater part of the flock. When the Shepherd returned to find his flock destroyed, he exclaimed: “I have been rightly served; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf?”
オオカミが、長いあいだヒツジの群れのあとをついて歩いていたが、一匹も傷つけようとはしなかった。羊飼いは初めのうち、敵に対するようにオオカミを警戒し、その動きを厳しく見張っていた。ところがオオカミが、来る日も来る日もヒツジたちといっしょにいながら、少しも襲いかかろうとしないので、羊飼いはしだいにオオカミを、群れに悪だくみをする者というより、むしろ群れの番人だと思うようになった。そしてある日、用事で町へ出かけることになったとき、羊飼いはヒツジたちをすっかりオオカミに預けていった。オオカミはこれぞ好機とばかりにヒツジに襲いかかり、群れの大半を食い殺してしまった。帰ってきて群れが全滅しているのを見た羊飼いは、叫んだ。「当然の報いだ。どうしてオオカミなんかにヒツジを任せたりしたのだろう？」