The Wolf, the Mother, and her Child

A hungry wolf watches a villager’s unguarded home, where he sees calves, lambs, sheep, and turkeys. Tired of merely longing for food, he is delighted when a crying child’s mother threatens to throw him to the wolf if he does not keep quiet. The wolf waits at the door, expecting the child to be given to him. Instead, the mother comforts the child and says that his father will kill the wolf if it comes near. Angered by her change of words, the wolf decides that the child may someday become his prey. Before he can pursue this hope, dogs attack him, while countrymen surround him with spears and iron forks. Asked why he came, the wolf explains. The mother, furious that he intended to eat her son, joins in his punishment, and the people kill him. His feet and scalp are displayed in the seigneur’s hall with a warning to wolves not to believe everything mothers say when children cry.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Animal Tale · 614 words

First lines

This wolf another brings to mind, / Who found dame Fortune more unkind, / In that the greedy, pirate sinner, / Was balk'd of life as well as dinner. / As saith our tale, a villager / Dwelt in a by, unguarded place; / There, hungry, watch'd our pillager / For luck and chance to mend his case. / For there his thievish eyes had seen / All sorts of game go out and in -- / Nice sucking calves, and lambs and sheep; / And turkeys by the regiment, / With steps so proud, and necks so bent, / They'd make a daintier glutton weep. / The thief at length began to tire / Of being gnaw'd by vain desire. / Just then a child set up a cry: / 'Be still,' the mother said, 'or I / Will throw you to the wolf, you brat! ' / 'Ha, ha! ' thought he, 'what talk is that! / The gods be thank'd for luck so good! ' / And ready at the door he stood, / When soothingly the mother said, / 'Now cry no more, my little dear; / That naughty wolf, if he comes here, / Your dear papa shall kill him dead. ' / 'Humph! ' cried the veteran mutton-eater. / 'Now this, now that! Now hot, now cool! / Is this the way they change their metre? / And do they take me for a fool? / Some day, a nutting in the wood, / That young one yet shall be my food. ' / But little time has he to dote / On such a feast; the dogs rush out / And seize the caitiff by the throat; / And country ditchers, thick and stout, / With rustic spears and forks of iron, / The hapless animal environ. / 'What brought you here, old head? ' cried one. / He told it all, as I have done. / 'Why, bless my soul! ' the frantic mother said, -- / 'You, villain, eat my little son! / And did I nurse the darling boy, / Your fiendish appetite to cloy? ' / With that they knock'd him on the head. / His feet and scalp they bore to town, / To grace the seigneur's hall, / Where, pinn'd against the wall, / This verse completed his renown: -- / "Ye honest wolves, believe not all / That mothers say, when children squall! "[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Woodman And Mercury by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Cock And The Fox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Cat Metamorphosed Into A Woman by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Bird Wounded By An Arrow by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Bat And The Two Weasels by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Earthen Pot And The Iron Pot by Jean De La Fontaine

Genres

• Fable — A brief animal-centered moral tale in the Aesopic tradition, ending with an explicit lesson about not trusting threats mothers make to quiet crying children.
• Didactic Literature — The narrative is constructed to instruct readers through an ironic moral concerning credulity, appetite, and the difference between words and intentions.
• Animal Tale — A wolf serves as the central nonhuman character, endowed with human reasoning, expectations, and speech-like reflections.
• Moral Allegory — The wolf's fatal mistake allegorically represents the danger of taking self-serving assurances or domestic threats literally.

Tags

French fable · verse narrative · Aesopian tradition · seventeenth-century France · rural village · wolf · mother and child · hungry predator · livestock · threats to children · maternal speech · misunderstanding

What this Textopian page supports

The Wolf, the Mother, and her Child is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Animal Tale, Moral Allegory, Verse Narrative
• Length: 614 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Wolf, the Mother, and her Child by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
• Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine