The Wolf and the Lamb

On a bright spring morning, in a peaceful valley surrounded by rolling hills and flowering meadows, a young lamb named Luna wandered away from her flock to explore a crystal-clear stream that babbled gently through the countryside.

Luna was still quite young, with soft white wool and an innocent, trusting nature that made her see the good in everything around her. She had been born in the spring and had lived her entire short life in the safety of the shepherd’s care, surrounded by her family and friends in the flock.

The stream was particularly beautiful that day, with the morning sunlight dancing on its surface and creating tiny rainbows in the water droplets that splashed over the smooth stones. Luna had been feeling thirsty after a morning of grazing, and the fresh, clean water looked absolutely perfect for a refreshing drink.

Luna carefully made her way down to the water’s edge, stepping delicately on the soft grass and smooth pebbles that lined the bank. She lowered her head to the stream and began to drink the cool, sweet water, enjoying the peaceful sounds of the flowing current and the singing of birds in the nearby trees.

The young lamb was so absorbed in enjoying her drink and the beautiful morning that she didn’t notice she was no longer alone. From the hills above the stream, a large, hungry wolf had been watching the flock in the distance, looking for an opportunity to catch an unwary victim.

The wolf, whose name was Fenris, had not eaten in several days and was becoming increasingly desperate for food. He was a cunning predator who had learned that the best hunting strategy was to isolate a single animal from the protection of the group, preferably one that was young and defenseless.

When Fenris spotted Luna drinking alone at the stream, far from the safety of her flock and the watchful eye of the shepherd, he knew he had found the perfect opportunity. However, Fenris was also clever enough to know that simply attacking without reason might make him seem like a common criminal, and he preferred to justify his actions with what sounded like legitimate grievances.

Fenris crept silently down the hillside, positioning himself upstream from where Luna was drinking. He wanted to approach from a position that would give him the best advantage while also allowing him to construct a plausible accusation against the innocent lamb.

“Excuse me, you there!” Fenris called out in his most authoritative voice, causing Luna to look up in surprise and alarm. “Yes, you, the lamb who’s been disturbing my drinking water!”

Luna looked around in confusion, not understanding what the wolf could possibly mean. “I’m sorry, sir,” she replied politely, “but I don’t understand. I’ve just arrived at the stream myself, and I’ve been very careful not to disturb anything.”

Fenris narrowed his eyes and put on his most intimidating expression. “Don’t try to deny it! You’ve been muddying the water with your clumsy drinking, and now it’s flowing downstream to me all dirty and contaminated. How dare you pollute my stream!”

The young lamb looked down at the crystal-clear water flowing around her feet, then up at the wolf with genuine bewilderment. “But sir,” she said respectfully, “you’re upstream from me. The water flows from where you are down to where I am, not the other way around. I couldn’t possibly be muddying your water even if I wanted to.”

Fenris was momentarily taken aback by the lamb’s logical observation, but he had no intention of letting facts interfere with his predetermined plan. A cunning predator always had backup accusations ready when the first one failed.

“Well then,” Fenris snarled, switching to a different approach, “if it’s not today’s offense, then it must be yesterday’s! Yes, that’s it! Yesterday you came to this very same spot and muddied the water terribly. I remember it clearly now!”

Luna’s eyes widened with innocent confusion. “Yesterday, sir? But I’ve never been to this stream before in my entire life. This is my first time wandering this far from the flock. I couldn’t have been here yesterday because I was with my mother and the other sheep in the home pasture all day.”

The wolf realized he was running out of believable accusations, but his hunger was making him increasingly aggressive and less concerned with logic. He had already decided to attack the lamb, and he was growing impatient with the pretense of finding a legitimate reason.

“If it wasn’t you yesterday,” Fenris growled menacingly, taking a step closer to the frightened lamb, “then it must have been last week! Or last month! Someone from your family has definitely been causing problems in this stream, and you’re going to pay for it!”

Luna began to tremble as she realized the danger she was in, but she still tried to reason with the wolf. “Please, sir, I was only born this spring. I’m not even old enough to have been alive last month, let alone to have caused any trouble in your stream. And my mother has always taught us to be respectful of shared water sources.”

The wolf was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lamb’s logical responses to his false accusations. Every excuse he invented was easily disproven by simple facts, but his determination to attack remained unchanged. He had already decided on his course of action before he even began making accusations.

“Enough of your excuses!” Fenris roared, abandoning all pretense of reasonable grievances. “If it wasn’t you personally, then it was your mother! Or your father! Or your grandmother! Someone in your family has definitely wronged me, and I don’t care who it was!”

Luna realized with growing terror that no amount of logic or truth was going to save her from this situation. The wolf wasn’t interested in actual justice or resolving real grievances—he was simply looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, to justify an attack he had already planned.

“But sir,” Luna tried one last time, her voice shaking with fear, “even if someone in my family had done something wrong, which they haven’t, how would punishing me for someone else’s actions be fair? I’m innocent of any wrongdoing!”

Fenris let out a harsh laugh that echoed off the hills around the stream. “Fair? Who said anything about being fair? I’m hungry, you’re here, and you’re defenseless. That’s all the reason I need!”

With that declaration, the wolf finally dropped all pretense of seeking justice or responding to legitimate grievances. He revealed what had been true all along—that he was simply a predator looking for prey, and all his accusations had been nothing more than a thin disguise for his predetermined intention to attack.

Luna tried to run, but she was too far from the safety of her flock and too young and small to outrun the powerful wolf. As Fenris leaped toward her, she realized the terrible truth about the world—that sometimes those with power will create false reasons to justify actions they were going to take anyway.

The other animals who lived near the stream heard the commotion and witnessed what happened. A wise old owl who had been watching from a nearby tree shook his head sadly as he observed the scene.

“This is always the way with tyrants,” the owl said to the other woodland creatures who had gathered in dismay. “They decided what they want to do before they ever start looking for reasons. The wolf was always going to attack that lamb—all his accusations were just theater to make himself feel justified.”

A rabbit who had seen the entire encounter nodded in agreement. “The poor lamb tried to reason with him, offering logical responses to every false accusation. But logic and truth mean nothing to someone who has already decided to be unreasonable.”

The fox, who was known for his cunning, added his own observation. “Notice how the wolf kept changing his accusations whenever the lamb proved one wrong? First it was muddying the water today, then yesterday, then last week, then family members. When you see someone constantly shifting their story like that, you know they’re not seeking truth—they’re seeking excuses.”

The wise old owl spread his wings and addressed all the animals who had gathered. “Let this be a lesson to all of us. When someone with power over you starts making accusations that don’t make logical sense, or when they keep changing their story every time you prove them wrong, they’re not seeking justice. They’ve already decided what they want to do, and they’re just looking for a way to make it seem reasonable.”

“But what can we do when we find ourselves in such a situation?” asked a young deer who had been listening intently.

The owl considered this carefully before answering. “Sometimes, sadly, there is nothing you can do to reason with unreasonable power. The innocent lamb tried logic, truth, and respectful explanation, but none of it mattered because the wolf wasn’t operating in good faith. In such cases, the only defense is to avoid such situations when possible, and to remember that the fault lies with the aggressor, not the victim.”

The animals in the forest never forgot the lesson of Luna and Fenris. They learned to recognize the difference between legitimate grievances that could be addressed through reason and discussion, and false accusations that were simply being used as pretexts for predetermined harmful actions.

They also learned to be suspicious when powerful figures made accusations that constantly shifted and couldn’t be logically supported, understanding that such behavior was often a sign that the accuser was acting in bad faith rather than seeking genuine justice.

Most importantly, they learned that being right and reasonable doesn’t always protect you from those who have already decided to harm you, and that sometimes the best response to tyrannical behavior is to recognize it early and seek safety rather than trying to reason with the unreasonable.

Moral: Those who are determined to do wrong will always find an excuse for their actions, no matter how innocent their victim may be. When someone keeps changing their accusations or making claims that don’t stand up to logical examination, they’re likely not seeking justice but simply looking for a pretext to justify predetermined harmful actions.