A Stag asked a Sheep to lend him a measure of wheat, and said that the Wolf would be his surety. The Sheep, fearing some fraud was intended, excused herself, saying, “The Wolf is accustomed to seize what he wants and to run off; and you, too, can quickly outstrip me in your rapid flight. How then shall I be able to find you, when the day of payment comes?”
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Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller, believed to have lived around 620–560 BCE, whose fables have been retold across cultures for over two millennia. His stories typically feature animals embodying human flaws to deliver a moral lesson in just a few lines. This fable in particular distills a warning about bad sureties into a single, razor-sharp exchange.
