It happened to be a very lean and bony Dog,
and Master Wolf would have turned up his nose
had he not been more hungry than usual.
So he began to edge toward the Dog,
"Let me remind your lordship,"
his words interrupted now and then
as he dodged a snap of the Wolf's teeth,
"how unpleasant it would be to eat me now.
I am nothing but skin and bone.
But let me tell you something in private.
my master will give a wedding feast for his only daughter.
You can guess how fine and fat
I will grow on the scraps from the table.
The Wolf could not help thinking how nice it would be
to eat instead of the scrawny object before him.
So he went away pulling in his belt
the Wolf came back for the promised feast.
He found the Dog in his master's yard,
and asked him to come out and be eaten.
"Sir," said the Dog, with a grin,
"I shall be delighted to have you eat me.
I'll be out as soon as the porter opens the door."
But the "porter" was a huge Dog
whom the Wolf knew by painful experience
to be very unkind toward wolves.
and made off as fast as his legs could carry him.