狼和小羊  拉封登著，江銘輝譯

無辜並不能擋開一切，有一個故事（並非最古老）告訴我們這個真理，強權者總是有理，讓你屈服。

有一次，一隻小羊到清澈的山間小溪喝水解渴，來了一隻飢餓的狼，找到獵物（小羊）後，準備將牠吃掉。惡狼站在小溪旁邊，注視這隻稚齡的小羊。以怒吼的語氣，叫道：「你竟敢弄髒我要喝的水?我要處罰你的傲慢無理！」

「請不要如此，狼大爺，」小羊說，「請不要這樣就下結論，也不要生氣！這是很難想像的，我喝的水離大爺還有二十步遠且在小溪的下游，在各種狀況下，都不可能弄髒大爺要喝的水。

「你當然會弄髒，」惡狼堅持說，「我也知道你去年罵過我，也造謠中傷我。」
喔！不，去年我還沒有出生，怎麼可能罵你呢?」小羊極力辯解說，「我不到一歲現在還在吃媽媽的奶呢？」

「那麼就是你的哥哥。」狼說，「可是我沒有哥哥，」小羊說。
「好！好！誰說的都是一樣，反正是跟你有關。我確實聽到了，可能是別隻羊、牧羊人或牧羊狗，破壞了我的名譽。」

不再講第二句話，惡狼決定處理牠的獵物，將小羊刁到森林裡，沒有經過任何公審、判決、平反，狂暴的把小羊給吃了。

譯者評論：強權就是公理，這句話是用來諷刺封建時候的君王及依附在君王旁邊的特權，拉封登處在路易十四鼎盛的時候，當時的貴族及教士，不時利用特權，橫行報霸道，人民哀聲載道。這個現象，拉封登把它寫在這篇寓言裡。

The Wolf and the Lamb （原稿）
That innocence is not a shield,
A story teaches, not the longest.
The strongest reasons always yield
To reasons of the strongest.
A lamb her thirst was slaking,
Once, at a mountain rill.
A hungry wolf was taking
His hunt for sheep to kill,
When, spying on the streamlet's brink
This sheep of tender age,
He howled in tones of rage,
"How dare you roil my drink?
Your impudence I shall chastise!"
"Let not your majesty," the lamb replies,
"Decide in haste or passion!
For sure It's difficult to think
In what respect or fashion
My drinking here could roil your drink,
Since on the stream your majesty now faces
I'm lower down, full twenty paces."
"You roil it," said the wolf; "and, more, I know
You cursed and slandered me a year ago."
"O no! how could I such a thing have done!
A lamb that has not seen a year,
A suckling of its mother dear?"
"Your brother then." "But brother I have none."
"Well, well, what's all the same,
It was some one of your name.
Sheep, men, and dogs of every nation,
Are wont to stab my reputation,
As I have truly heard."
Without another word,
He made his vengeance good—
Bore off the lambkin to the wood,
And there, without a jury,
Judged, slew, and ate her in his fury.