A Wolf once devoured his prey so ravenously that a bone stuck in his throat, giving him great pain. He ran howling up and down in his suffering and offered to reward handsomely any one who would pull the bone out. A Crane, moved by pity as well as by the prospect of the money, undertook the dangerous task, and having removed the bone, asked for the promised reward.
Reward! cried the Wolf; pray, you greedy fellow, what greater reward can you possibly require? You have had your head in my mouth, and instead of biting it off I have let you pull it out unharmed. Get away with you, and don’t come again within reach of my paw.
Smith, Nora Archibald, 1859-1934. ‘The talking beasts; a book of fable wisdom.’ Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Page & Company, 1911