The Wolf, the Mother, and the Child
This fable immediately follows the previous one The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid. It refers to it in the first verses.
This wolf, like the other one, is hungry. He heard something and he thought that he will be fed. Then, he heard the opposite. He is not happy about that, and he says so. This is a big mistake, and it causes his death
Le Loup, la Mère et l'Enfant
Ce loup me remet en mémoire
Un de ses compagnons
qui fut encor mieux pris :
Il y périt. Voici l’histoire :
Un villageois avait à l’écart son logis.
Messer loup attendait chape chute1
à la porte ;
Il avait vu sortir gibier de toute sorte,
Veaux de lait, agneaux et brebis,
Régiment de dindons, enfin bonne provende.
Le larron commençait pourtant à s’ennuyer.
Il entend un enfant crier :
La mère aussitôt le gourmande,
Le menace, s’il ne se tait,
De le donner au loup.
L’animal se tient prêt,
Remerciant les dieux d’une telle aventure,
Quand la mère, apaisant sa chère géniture,
Lui dit : Ne criez point ; s’il vient,
nous le tuerons.
Qu’est ceci ! s’écria le mangeur de moutons :
Dire d’un, puis d’un autre !
Est-ce ainsi que l’on traite
Les gens faits comme moi ?
me prend-on pour un sot ?
Que, quelque jour, ce beau marmot
Vienne au bois cueillir la noisette…
Comme il disait ces mots, on sort de la maison :
Un chien de cour l’arrête ;
épieux et fourches-fières
L’ajustent de toutes manières.
Que veniez-vous chercher en ce lieu ?
lui dit-on.
Aussitôt il conta l’affaire.
Merci de moi ! lui dit la mère ;
Tu mangeras mon fils ! L’ai-je fait à dessein
Qu’il assouvisse un jour ta faim ?
On assomma la pauvre bête.
Un manant lui coupa le pied droit et la tête :
Le seigneur du village à sa porte les mit ;
Et ce dicton picard alentour fut écrit :
« Biaux dures leups, n’écoutez mie
« Mère tenchent chen fieux qui crie2. »
1: Une bonne occasion.
2: « Beaux sires loups, n’écoutez pas mère tançant son fils qui crie. »
The Wolf, the Mother, and the Child
This wolf reminds me
Of one of his companions
who was even better taken:
He perishes. Here is the story :
A villager had his lodgings away.
Messer wolf was waiting for a good opportunity
at the door;
He had seen coming out all kinds of game,
Milk-fed calves, lambs and ewes,
Regiment of turkeys, really good feed.
The thief, however, was beginning to get bored.
He hears a child who was crying:
The mother immediately admonishes him,
Threatens him, if he is not silent,
To give him to the wolf.
The animal stands ready,
Thanking the gods for such an adventure,
When the mother, soothing her dear offspring,
Said unto him: Cry not; if he comes,
we will kill him.
What is this! shouted the sheep-eater:
Say one thing, then another!
Is this how we treat
People like me?
am I being taken for a fool?
That, someday, this beautiful brat
Come to the woods to pick the hazelnut…
As he said these words, people leave the house:
A yard dog stops him;
spears and pitchforks
Adjust him all around.
What did you come here looking for?
he is asked.
Immediately he told the story.
Thanks from me! said the mother to him;
You will eat my son! Did I make him on purpose
So that he ever satisfies your hunger?
They knocked the poor beast out.
A peasant cut off his right foot and head:
The lord of the village put them at his door;
And this picard saying around was written:
"Beautiful wolf lords, do not listen to
A mother who admonishes her crying son."
First Fable: The Circada and the Ant
Previous Fable: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid
Next Fable: The Miser who has Lost his Treasure
Misunderstanding a piece of information
The wolf hears the mother telling her child that, if he continues to cry, she will give him to the wolf. And the wolf takes this at face value. He does not know enough about the way humans speak to their children to understand that they do not mean it when they say such threats. That is his first mistake.
To be sure you understand what somebody else means, you should know enough about them and their culture. If the person speaks another language, some meaning may be lost in translation.
Something you say casually often may not be understood easily by a foreigner who is not fluent in your language and who does not know enough about your culture.
Taking into account a second piece of information
When the wolf hears the mother saying that if the wolf is coming, they will kill him, he should have realized that what he had heard before what not what the mother meant. Then, he should have left promptly.
Instead, he wants the first words to be true, and not the second. This is his second mistake.
When investing, if we have believed someone recommending a company and bought some shares, we should be ready to limit our loss if the share price is going down. Too often, we want the initial recommendation to be true, even when we lose more and more.
Do not just believe the words, look at the actions of the speaker
If your neighbor or your brother-in-law recommends an investment to you, check first if they are following their own advice. If they don't, if they do not have "skin in the game", then you should disregard their recommendation.
Also, do not just look at the correct predictions of a professional financial adviser. They may have made more incorrect predictions in the past than correct ones. If this is true, then disregard their advice.
And don't regret to have done it if the prediction turns out to be true. It could as well have been wrong and cost you money.