Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable XXVIII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. XXVIII.

A Wolf, Kid, and Goat.

A Goat that was going out one Morning for a Mouthful of Fresh Grass, Charg'd her Kid upon her Blessing, not to Open the Door till she came back, to any Creature that had not a Beard. The Goat was no sooner out of fight, but up comes a Wolf to the Door, that had Over-heard the Charge; and in a Small Pipe calls to the Kid to let her Mother come in. The Kid smelt out the Roguery, and bad the Wolf shew his Beard, and the Door should be Open to him.

The Moral.

There never was any Hypocrite so Disguis'd, but he had some Mark or Other yet to be known by.

REFLEXION.

Here is Prudence, Caution, and Obedience, recommended to us in the Kids refusal to Open the Door ; and here is likewise set forth in the Wolf , the Practice of a Fraudulent, and a Bloody Impostor. This Moral runs through the Whole Business of Humane Life, for so much as the Plot is carry'd on against the Simple and the Innocent, under False Colours, and Feigned Pretences. There are Wolves, in Policy, as Well as in Mythology; and if the Kids Obedience had not been more than her Sagacity, she would have found, to her Cost, the Teeth of a Wolf, in the mouth of a Goat; and the malice of an Enemy cover'd under the Voice and Pretence of a Parent.