Fable #677

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A hungry Wolf spied a Goat browsing at the top of a steep cliff where he could not possibly get at her. That evening he gave the Jackdaw to his children. He was to meet some jolly young men that morning, and he was at his wits' end how to get enough money to keep up appearances. I am nothing but a Mouse. He would be very happy to give them some medicine. As he ran, the setting sun cast his shadow far out on the ground, and it looked as if the wolf were a hundred times bigger than he really was. Wishing also to rest in the shade cast by the Ass, he began to quarrel with the Traveler, saying he had hired the Ass and not the shadow it cast. His limbs could no longer bear him, and the King of Beasts was very pitiful indeed as he lay gasping on the ground, about to die. What!, snarled the Wolf, whirling around. The Wolf killed a great many of the Boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.