The Nurse and the Wolf

Fables attributed to Aesop, Babrius, Avianus, and Others
Including a Modern Version by Ambrose Bierce.

Aarne-Thompson-Uther Type 75*
Perry Type 158

edited by

D. L. Ashliman
© 2021

Return to D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.

Contents

  1. The Fable of the Old Woman and of the Wulf (Aesop / Avianus -- printed by William Caxton, 1484).

  2. The Wolf and the Nurse (Babrius -- translated by James Davies).

  3. The Crying Babe (Geffrey Whitney).

  4. The Wolf, the Mother, and Her Child (Aesop -- retold by Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Elizur Wright).

  5. A Nurse and a Wolfe (Aesop -- translated by Roger L'Estrange).

  6. A Nurse and Froward Child (Aesop -- printed by Samuel Richardson).

  7. The Nurse and the Wolf (Aesop -- printed for Thomas Bewick).

  8. The Nurse and the Wolf (Aesop -- translated by Samual Croxall).

  9. The Mother and the Wolf (Aesop -- translated by George Fyler Townsend).

  10. The Nurse and the Wolf (Aesop -- retold by Joseph Jacobs).

  11. The Wolf, the Mother, and Her Child (Aesop -- translated by V. S. Vernon Jones).

  12. The Wolf and the Babe (Ambrose Bierce).

Return to D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.

The Fable of the Old Woman and of the Wulf

Aesop / Avianus (printed by William Caxton, 1484)

Men ought not byleve on al maner sprytes / As reherceth this fable of an old woman / which said to her child bicause that it wept / certeynly if thow wepst ony more / I shal make the to be ete of the wulf / & the wulf herying this old woman / abode styll to fore the yate / & supposed to have eten the old womans child / & by cause that the wulf had soo longe taryed there that he was hongry / he retorned and went ageyne in to the wood / And the shewulf demaunded of mym / why hast thow not brought to me some mete / And the wulf ansuerd / by cause / that the old woman hath begyled me / the whiche had promysed to me to gyve to me her child for to have ete hym / And at the laste I hadd hit not / And therfore men ought in no wyse to trust the woman / And he is wel a fole that setteth his hope and truste in a woman / And therfore truste them not / and thow shalt doo as the sage and wyse.

Retold in modern English:

One should not believe everything that one hears, as evidenced by this fable about the old woman who said to her crying child: "If you don't stop crying, I'll throw you to the wolf, and he'll eat you up!"

Hearing this, the wolf stayed by the gate and hoped to eat the woman's child, but he only grew more and more hungry. Finally he gave up and returned to his den in the woods. The she-wolf berated him for not bringing home any meat.

The wolf answered her: "It is because the old woman deceived me. She promised to give me her child to eat, but she never did so. Thus men should never trust a woman."

It is only a fool who puts his hope and trust in a woman. Be wise and never trust them.

The Wolf and the Nurse

Babrius (translated by James Davies)

A country nurse, to fright her babe to peace,
Said, "Wolf shall have thee, or thy cries must cease."

The wolf o'erheard, believed the scolding crone,
And stay'd in hopes to find the feast his own.
But evening came; the babe was hush'd to rest:
The wolf still gaped, with rav'ning hunger prest.
At last his hopes to utter dulness grew:
Then to his anxious helpmate he withdrew.

"How cam'st thou empty?" said she. He replied,
"Because upon a female I relied."

The Crying Babe

Geffrey Whitney

The crying babe, the mother sharply threates,
Except he ceas'd, he should to wolfe bee throwne:
Which being hard, the wolfe at windowe waites,
And made account that child should bee his owne:
Till at the lengthe, agayne he hard her say
Feare not sweete babe, thou shalt not bee his pray.

For, if he come in hope so sucke thy blood,
Wee wil him kill, before he shall departe:
With that the wolfe retorned to the wood,
And did exclayme thus wise with heavie hart:
Oh Jupiter? What people now doe live,
That promise much, and yet will nothing give.

The Wolf, the Mother, and Her Child

Aesop (retold by Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Elizur Wright)


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 natting 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!"

A Nurse and a Wolfe

Aesop (translated by Roger L'Estrange)

As a Wolfe was Hunting up and down for his Supper, he pass'd by a Door where a Little Child was Bawling, and an Old Woman Chiding it. Leave your Vixen-Tricks, says the Woman or I'l throw ye to the Wolfe. The Wolfe Over-heard her, and Waited a pretty While, in hope the Woman would be as good as her Word; but No Child coming, away goes the Wolfe for That Bout. He took his Walk the Same Way again toward the Evening, and the Nurse he found had Chang'd her Note; for she was Then Muzzling, and Cokesing of it. That's a Good Dear, says she, If the Wolf comes for My Child We'll e'en Beat his Brains out. The Wolf went Muttering away upon't. There's No Meddling with People, says he, that say One Thing and Mean Another.

The MORAL

'Tis Fear more then Love that makes Good Men, as well as Good Children, and when Fair Words, and Good Councel will not Prevail upon us, we must be Frighted into our Duty.

REFLEXION

THE Heart and Tongue of a Woman are commonly a Great way asunder. And it may bear Another Moral; which is, that 'tis with Froward Men, and Froward Factions too, as 'tis with Froward Children, They'll be sooner Quieted by Fear, and Rough Dealing, then by any Sense of Duty or Good Nature. There would be no Living in This World without Penal Laws, and Conditions. And Do or Do not, This or That at your Peril, is as Reasonable, and Necessary in Families as it is in Governments. It is a Truth Imprinted in the Hearts of All Mankind, that the Gibbets, Pillories, and the Whipping-Posts make more Converts then the Pulpits: As the Child did more here for fear of the Wolfe, then for the Love of the Nurse.

A Nurse and Froward Child

Aesop (printed by Samuel Richardson)

A Wolf prowling about for his Supper, pass'd by a Door where a little Child was bawling, and a Nurse chiding it.

"Leave your Vixen-Tricks," says the Woman, "or I'll throw you to the Wolf."

The Wolf, hearing this, waited a pretty while, in hope the Woman would be as good as her Word. But the Child being frighted into better Temper, the Tone was turned, and he had the Mortification to hear the Nurse say, "That's a good Dear! If the Wolf comes for my Child, we'll e'en beat his Brains out."

Upon which the Wolf went muttering away as fas as he could.

Moral

An ingenuous Spirit will be wrought upon by fair Words; but a perverse one must be terrified into its Duty, if soft means will not do.

Reflection

Terrors are as necessary to quiet froward Spirits, as Praises and Rewards are to encourage the Tractable. But yet we must apply this principally to grown Persons; for, as the Children or Infants, there cannot be a more pernicious Error than to terrify them, as is the comm Practice of foolish Nurses, with Bugbears, Hobgoblins, Raw-heads and Bloody-bones, &c. which often fix such Impressions of Fear and Apprehension on the Infant, as can never be rooted out of the Man.

The Nurse and the Wolf

Aesop (printed for Thomas Bewick)

A Nurse, who was endeavouring to quiet a froward child, among other things threatened to throw it out of doors to the Wolf, if it did not leave off crying. A Wolf, who chanced to be prowling near the door just at the time, heard the expression, and believing the woman to be in earnest, waited a long while about the house, in expectation of having her words made good. But at last the child, wearied with its own perverseness, fell asleep, and the Wolf was forced to return back into the woods, empty and supperless.

The Fox meeting him, and surprized to see him going home so thin and disconsolate, asked him what the matter was, and how he came to speed no better that night?

"Ah! Do not ask me," says he. "I was so silly as to believe what the Nurse said, and have been disappointed."

Application

Many of the old moralists have interpreted this Fable as a caution never to trust a woman: a barbarous inference, which neither the obvious sense of the apologue, nor the disposition of the softer sex will warrant. For though some women may be fickle and unstable, yet the generality exceed their calumniators in truth and constancy, and have more frequently to complain of being the victims, than to be arraigned as the authors of broken vows.

To us this Fable appears to mean little more than merely to shew how easily inclined we are, in all our various expectations through life, to delude ourselves into a belief of any thing which we desire to be true.

The lover interprets every smile of his mistress in his own favour, and is then perhaps neglected. The beauty believes all mankind are dying for her, and is then deserted by her train of admirers. The followers of the great reckon a smile or a nod very auspicious omens, and deceive themselves with groundless hopes of employment or promotion, in expectation of which, they, like the Wolf at the Nurse's door, dangle away the time that might be usefully employed elsewhere, and at last are obliged to retire disappointed and hungry, crying out perhaps against the perfidy of those in power, instead of blaming their own sanguine credulity.

The Nurse and the Wolf

Aesop (translated by Samuel Croxall)

A Nurse, who was endeavouring to quiet a wayward, self-willed child, among other attempts, threatened to throw him out of doors to the Wolf, if he did not leave off crying. A Wolf, who chanced to be prowling near the door just at that time, heard the words, and, believing the woman to be in earnest, waited a long while about the house in expectation of seeing her words made good. But at last the child, wearied with its own importunities, fell asleep, and the poor Wolf was forced to return again to the woods without his expected supper.

The Fox meeting him, and surprised to see him going home so thin and disconsolate, asked him what was the matter, and how he came to speed no better that night.

"Ah, do not ask me," says he; "I was so silly as to believe what the Nurse said, and have been disappointed."

Moral

Be not too ready to give credence to the assertions of an angry man.

Application

There is no custom more common, nor at the same time more hurtful and pernicious, than that which prevails among nurses and persons of inferior minds, of telling children false stories and resorting to threats, with the intention of frightening them into good conduct. This habit is sinful in itself, as a departure from the strictness of truth, and is often most fatal in its consequences.

There are many well-authenticated instances on record in which a permanent injury in after years has been caused to the child; and many lasting fears, prejudices, and antipathies have arisen from the impressions created in the infant mind by these idle tales and threats.

Dean Swift, in his account of the kingdom of Lilliput, relates that "nurses thus misconducting themselves were first soundly scourged, and then expelled from the island."

Let it, then, be the first care of mothers or nurses never either to say to a child anything which is not strictly true, nor in a fit of anger to indulge in threats which they have no intention to carry out. If they adopt the conduct of this foolish Nurse in the fable, and conjure up an imaginary wolf or ghost to help them in the momentary emergency of a naughty fit, they will probably find, when it is too late, that they have thoughtlessly cowed the spirit of the child, and have planted in his mind thorns and fears which it will be beyond the power of their arguments or philosophy to modify or remove.

One angry moment often does
What we repent for years;
It works the wrong we ne'er make right
By sorrow or by tears.

This fable, however, refers to the conduct of the Wolf rather than of the Nurse. It teaches the folly of those who take too much notice of words spoken in a passion. Angry persons say more than they mean, and generally, as soon as the moment of calm reflection comes, are themselves sorry for their violence and indiscretion.

Oh, how the passions, insolent and strong,
L'ear our weak minds their rapid course along!

The Mother and the Wolf

Aesop (translated by George Fyler Townsend)

A famished Wolf was prowling about in the morning in search of food.

As he passed the door of a cottage built in the forest, he heard a Mother say to her child, "Be quiet, or I will throw you out of the window, and the Wolf shall eat you."

The Wolf sat all day waiting at the door. In the evening he heard the same woman, fondling her child and saying: "He is quiet now, and if the Wolf should come, we will kill him."

The Wolf, hearing these words, went home, gaping with cold and hunger. On his reaching his den, Mistress Wolf inquired of him why he returned wearied and supperless, so contrary to his wont.

He replied: "Why, forsooth! -- because I gave credence to the words of a woman!"

The Nurse and the Wolf

Aesop (retold by Joseph Jacobs)

"Be quiet now," said an old Nurse to a child sitting on her lap. "If you make that noise again I will throw you to the Wolf."

Now it chanced that a Wolf was passing close under the window as this was said. So he crouched down by the side of the house and waited. "I am in good luck today," thought he. "It is sure to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven t had for many a long day."

So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail. But all the Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the dogs of the house came rushing out.

"Ah," said the Wolf as he galloped away, "Enemies' promises were made to be broken."

The Wolf, the Mother, and Her Child

Aesop (translated by V. S. Vernon Jones

A hungry Wolf was prowling about in search of food. By and by, attracted by the cries of a Child, he came to a cottage.

As he crouched beneath the window, he heard the Mother say to the Child, "Stop crying, do! or I'll throw you to the Wolf."

Thinking she really meant what she said, he waited there a long time in the expectation of satisfying his hunger.

In the evening he heard the Mother fondling her Child and saying, "If the naughty Wolf comes, he shan't get my little one: Daddy will kill him."

The Wolf got up in much disgust and walked away. "As for the people in that house," said he to himself, "you can't believe a word they say."

The Wolf and the Babe

Ambrose Bierce

A Famishing Wolf, passing the door of a cottage in the forest, heard a Mother say to her babe: "Be quiet, or I will throw you out of the window, and the wolves will get you."

So he waited all day below the window, growing more hungry all the time. But at night the Old Man, having returned from the village club, threw out both Mother and Child.

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Revised May 26, 2021.