Story：The butcher and the wolf
【明報專訊】A butcher wrapped his business up and went home. The time was late. At that moment, a creature appeared all in a sudden. It was a wolf! It looked at the remaining cuts of meat the butcher was carrying. The bloody smell of the meat made the wolf's saliva flow and dripple.
The butcher realised that he was being followed by the wolf and was terrified. He took out his butcher knife and waved it in front of the wolf. The wolf seemed deterred by the knife at first, but it quickly sensed that it was far from being a weapon. At his wits' end, the butcher continued to walk, and the wolf followed closely. The butcher came up with an idea. He knew that what the wolf was after was the meat after all. It was better for him to just abandon the meat and walk away. He then hung the cuts of meat on a tree.
No sooner had he finished hanging the meat than the wolf ran towards the tree. Knowing that the wolf ceased to be a threat, the butcher walked back home and waited until morning. He was back to where the tree was located. The wolf was gone.
Not really! ◆
He saw a huge animal hanging dead on the tree. It was the wolf!
The butcher was surprised by that and examined the body meticulously. He discovered that the wolf's mouth was filled with pieces of meat. The hooks, which the butcher used to hang the meat, penetrated the wolf's jaw. It took the bait inadvertently! The butcher sold the wolf's skins in the marketplace and earned a large sum.
Adapted from a short story by Pu Songling (蒲松齡)
(by Ian Lam)
◆Food for thought
A French proverb says, ''Greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth.'' What a greedy man is chasing ultimately isn't their victim, but a tragic result from their own greed.
■Gear up
Circle the correct answers after reading the above story.
(1) The butcher is very rich.
(True/False/Not given)
(2) The wolf actually wants the meat rather the butcher.
(True/False/Not given)
(3) The wolf gets itself killed by jumping onto the hooks to get the meat. (True/False/Not given)
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
wrap sth up (v phr) 收拾
dripple (v) 滴下
cease to be (v phr) 不再是
inadvertently (adv) 不知就裏地
[Smarties' Power English 第315期]
