{"id":760,"date":"2022-01-23T15:43:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T10:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/?p=760"},"modified":"2022-01-23T15:46:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T10:16:57","slug":"sheep-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/2022\/01\/23\/sheep-wolves\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheep &#038; Wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A herd of sheep lived in a forest. There were all kinds of sheep in the herd: fat and lean; young and old; white and grey. And there were sheep with horns as well.<\/p>\n<p>There also lived a pack of wolves adjacent to where the sheep lived.<\/p>\n<p>The sheep were easy prey for the wolves, who often attacked the herd, usually at night.<\/p>\n<p>The sheep, however, had come up with an effective way for safety.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-594\" src=\"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"674\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-1024x748.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-768x561.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-480x351.jpg 480w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008-684x500.jpg 684w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0008.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The sheep with horns were tasked with the security of the herd, and they mostly kept the wolves away.<\/p>\n<p>But the life was easy neither for the wolves nor for the sheep.<\/p>\n<p>Every now and then, the wolves\u2019 attempt to hunt succeeded. And the other times, one or the other member of the pack would get injured at the horns of the defending sheep.<\/p>\n<p>Tired from all the attacking and defending, the elders among the sheep and wolves called a meeting to think of a solution.<\/p>\n<p>They decided to call a truce between the neighbours. As per their agreement, the wolves and sheep would not step into each other\u2019s territory or attack each other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough this is not natural, we as neighbours must stick to this agreement for our prosperity,\u201d declared the elders.<\/p>\n<p>The truce took effect. The wolves stopped attacking. The sheep gave up defending.<\/p>\n<p>One day, many months later, a wolf felt thirsty. The only source of water close to the wolf was inside the sheep\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing no one around, the wolf tiptoed to the stream and quenched his thirst.<\/p>\n<p>Another day, the sun was shining brightly over the forest. A wolf needed some shade, which was only available under a huge tree in the sheep\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing no one around, the wolf took a nap in the shade, and returned.<\/p>\n<p>There was a wicked wolf in the pack, who had seen the two wolves breach the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>One summer day, the wicked wolf got hungry.<\/p>\n<p>He spotted a defenceless lamb in the sheep\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_593\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-593\" style=\"width: 699px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-593\" src=\"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"699\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-1024x745.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-768x559.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-480x349.jpg 480w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1-687x500.jpg 687w, https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG-20210417-WA0007-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 699px) 100vw, 699px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-593\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Illustration by: Neha Kumari<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The wolf jumped at the opportunity and attacked the lamb. But the lamb raised a cry, alarming the sheep, who attacked and injured the wolf. Both the lamb and the wolf were left wounded.<\/p>\n<p>All the wolves and the sheep gathered at the spot. Everyone was shocked at the breach of the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The elders from both sides convened a meeting to look at the matter.<\/p>\n<p>The wicked wolf was asked to explain his actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not the only one guilty,\u201d said the wolf, with confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been breaches earlier. There are wolves who drank from the sheep\u2019s stream and rested in their shade. You cannot blame me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The elderly, and everyone around, was shocked, as were the two wolves who had breached the agreement before. They had thought no one knew about them.<\/p>\n<p>There was a hue and cry. Sheep and wolves debated in favour of the wicked wolf and against him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuiet, everyone,\u201d shouted the oldest wolf, who was respected by everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne wrong cannot be justified by other wrongs committed earlier. What is wrong is wrong. \u00a0The wolf who attacked the lamb is wrong, so are the two who stepped into the sheep\u2019s territory before him. And all will be punished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The wolves were thus driven out of the forest.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement was restored, so was the peace between the neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A herd of sheep lived in a forest. There were all kinds of sheep in the herd: fat and lean; young and old; white and grey. And there were sheep with horns as well. There also lived a pack of wolves adjacent to where the sheep lived. The sheep were easy prey for the wolves,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,13,197,12,11,8,262,263,264],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-children-stories","tag-fairytales","tag-forest","tag-inspiring-tales","tag-kashmir","tag-kids-stories","tag-sheep","tag-wolves","tag-wrong","enable-dropcap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}