The Lion and the Wolf

An old woman once owned a very fine flock of sheep. She fed them and looked after them so well that they became famous for being fat. Before long a wicked wolf heard about them and decided to eat them.

Night after night the wolf crept up to the old woman’s cottage and killed one of her sheep. She did everything she could to protect them, but nothing worked.

At last only one sheep was left out of the whole flock. The old woman was very sad. She was afraid that this one, too, would be taken from her, whatever she did. While she was worrying about it, a lion came to her village.

He saw how unhappy she looked and asked what was wrong, and she told him the whole story. The lion offered to do his best to punish the wicked wolf. He went himself to the place where the sheep usually slept, and the sheep was moved somewhere else.

Meanwhile the wolf was on his way to the cottage. As he went, he met a fox. The fox was rather afraid of the wolf and got ready to run. But the wolf told him where he was going and invited him to come along. The fox agreed, and off they went together.

When they reached the cottage, they went straight to the spot where the sheep always slept. The wolf rushed in at once, while the fox hung back a little. Just as the fox was making up his mind to go in and help, there was a bright flash of lightning. By its light the fox could see that the wolf was attacking not a sheep but a lion. He turned and ran, shouting as he went, “Look at his face! Look at his face!”

In that flash, the wolf did look at the animal he thought was a sheep, and to his horror he saw his terrible mistake. At once he began to apologise humbly, but it was no use. The lion would not listen to any of his excuses and quickly put him to death.

Where this tale comes from

“The Lion and the Wolf” is story XXIV in Barker and Sinclair’s West African Folk-Tales (1917). It is told without any just-so ending: the whole tale builds to one flash of lightning and the fox’s shouted warning, “Look at his face!”

Barker notes in his introduction that the Gold Coast tellers adjusted inherited stories to suit their listeners, and that he compared several students’ versions before settling on each one for the book.

Read the original: Barker and Sinclair’s West African Folk-Tales (Gutenberg)

Reading guidance: older children comfortable with a grim animal fable. A wolf kills most of a flock and is then killed by a lion lying in wait.

The moment recognition arrives too late

The wolf assumes that a familiar place contains the same vulnerable sheep. The fox hesitates, and the lightning gives him the information he needs to flee. The audience already knows about the substitution, so suspense comes from waiting for the wolf to discover it.

Tell the arrival twice, first with the lightning before the wolf enters and then where it occurs in the tale. How does that one change alter who escapes? The lion protects the remaining sheep, but readers can separately consider whether killing the trapped attacker is necessary.

Think about it

• How did the lion plan to catch the wolf?
• What did the fox see when the lightning flashed?
• Why do you think the wolf brought the fox along?

You may also like

• The Leopard and the Ram — another animal fooled by what it sees
• King Chameleon and the Animals — a tale of the animals choosing who rules them
• Crocodile’s Treason — a lion, a jackal and a trap from southern Africa