The Wolf and the Horse

A wolf stepped out of the oat field, shaking the dust from his coat, and there at the gate stood a horse.

"Good morning, my friend!" said the wolf in his sweetest voice, and he waved a paw at the field behind him. "Go on in. The oats are ripe and thick, and I have not touched a single one. I saved them all for you."

The horse looked at the field rippling gold in the sun. "All for me?" he said.

"All for you," said the wolf, and he laid a paw on his heart. "You are my friend, and there is no sound I love so much as the sound of you eating. Munch, munch, munch! It is music to my ears."

The horse did not move. He flicked one ear and blew through his nose.

"Wolf," he said, "if wolves ate oats, you would have filled your belly and let your ears go hungry."