Library / Fantastic Fables

The Wolf and the Feeding Goat

A fable by Ambrose Bierce

Lesson planWorksheet

Parody of Aesop; jokes need adult explanation.

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The Wolf and the Feeding Goat

A Wolf saw a Goat feeding at the summit of a rock, where he could not get at her.

"Why do you stay up there in that sterile place and go hungry?" said the Wolf. "Down here where I am the broken-bottle vine cometh up as a flower, the celluloid collar blossoms as the rose, and the tin-can tree brings forth after its kind."

"That is true, no doubt," said the Goat, "but how about the circus-poster crop? I hear that it failed this year down there."

The Wolf, perceiving that he was being chaffed, went away and resumed his duties at the doors of the poor.

What is he mocking?
Boosters praise the junk-strewn city's riches, yet poverty keeps stalking the poor.

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Discussion questions

  1. What do you think the Goat teaches us about making decisions in difficult situations?
  2. How does the Wolf represent common temptations in our lives?
  3. Can you think of a time when you were tempted to leave a safe situation for something that seemed better?

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Good night.

Tomorrow night: The Traveler and Fortune