The Wolf and the Housedog / The Dog and the Wolf (Aesop's Fables)
The Dog and the Wolf (Alfred Caldecott's Version)
A Wolf, seeing a large Dog with a collar on, asked him: "Who put that collar round your neck, and fed you to be so sleek?" "My master," answered the Dog. "Then," said the Wolf, "may no friend of mine be treated like this; a collar is as grievous as starvation."
(From the book Some of Æsop's Fables with Modern Instances Shewn in Designs by Randolph Caldecott, from New Translations by Alfred Caldecott, M.A., with the Engravings by J. D. Cooper — Public Domain)
The Dog and the Wolf (Joseph Jacobs's Version)
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. “Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog. “I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?”
“I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.”
“I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.”
So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about.
“Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.”
“Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”
Better starve free than be a fat slave.
(From the book The Fables of Aesop: Selected, Told Anew, and Their History Traced by Joseph Jacobs, done into pictures by Richard Heighway — Public Domain)
The Wolf and the Housedog (George Fyler Townsend's Version)
A Wolf, meeting a big well-fed Mastiff with a wooden collar about his neck asked him who it was that fed him so well and yet compelled him to drag that heavy log about wherever he went. “The master,” he replied. Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite.”
(From the book Three Hundred Æsop’s Fables Literally Translated from the Greek by the Rev. George Fyler Townsend, M.A. — Public Domain)
The Wolf and the House Dog (Milo Winter's Version)
There was once a Wolf who got very little to eat because the Dogs of the village were so wide awake and watchful. He was really nothing but skin and bones, and it made him very downhearted to think of it.
One night this Wolf happened to fall in with a fine fat House Dog who had wandered a little too far from home. The Wolf would gladly have eaten him then and there, but the House Dog looked strong enough to leave his marks should he try it. So the Wolf spoke very humbly to the Dog, complimenting him on his fine appearance.
"You can be as well-fed as I am if you want to," replied the Dog. "Leave the woods; there you live miserably. Why, you have to fight hard for every bite you get. Follow my example and you will get along beautifully."
"What must I do?" asked the Wolf.
"Hardly anything," answered the House Dog. "Chase people who carry canes, bark at beggars, and fawn on the people of the house. In return you will get tidbits of every kind, chicken bones, choice bits of meat, sugar, cake, and much more beside, not to speak of kind words and caresses."
The Wolf had such a beautiful vision of his coming happiness that he almost wept. But just then he noticed that the hair on the Dog's neck was worn and the skin was chafed.
"What is that on your neck?"
"Nothing at all," replied the Dog.
"What! nothing!"
"Oh, just a trifle!"
"But please tell me."
"Perhaps you see the mark of the collar to which my chain is fastened."
"What! A chain!" cried the Wolf. "Don't you go wherever you please?"
"Not always! But what's the difference?" replied the Dog.
"All the difference in the world! I don't care a rap for your feasts and I wouldn't take all the tender young lambs in the world at that price." And away ran the Wolf to the woods.
There is nothing worth so much as liberty.
(From the book The Æsop for Children, with pictures by Milo Winter — Public Domain)
The Wolf and the House Dog (J. H. Stickney's Version)
A Wolf met a Dog, and seeing that he looked fat and sleek, said to him, “How does it happen, my friend, that you are so plump, while I, although I run after game day and night, am half starved?”
“Why,” said the Dog, “I do not have to run after my food. I only guard the house at night, and all the family pet me and feed me with scraps from their own plates. Come and live with me, and you shall be as well off as I am.”
“That I should like,” said the Wolf. “I will at least go with you and try the life.”
As they trotted along the road together, the Wolf saw a mark on the Dog’s neck, and asked him what it was.
“Oh, that is nothing,” said the Dog; “only a little mark made by the fretting of my chain.”
“Do you wear a chain?” asked the Wolf; “and do you mean to say that you are tied up?”
“Why, yes,” said the Dog; “they tie me in the daytime, but at night I can go where I please. It is a bit annoying at first, but one soon gets used to it.”
“Good-by,” said the Wolf; “that is enough for me. Though I may not be fat, I will at least be free.”
(From the book Æsop’s Fables: A Version for Young Readers by J. H. Stickney, illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull — Public Domain)