16. A Man and a Wolf

There was a poor man who tried to make his living by cutting wood and selling it at the market. One day, he met a wolf in the forest. When the wolf learnt about the man’s hardship, he promised to give him a golden coin to bolster his income each time the man came to cut wood. The man was very happy. After some time, the man invited the wolf to dinner to express his gratitude to him. After the feast, the wolf overheard the man’s wife saying that she detested the smell of his mouth. The wolf took offence. The next day, the wolf commanded the man to strike him with his axe on his head and told him to come back in forty days. When the man returned, the wolf showed him that the wound on his head had healed. He still, however, felt scarred by the words of the man’s wife. He said, ‘a wound caused by a blow man may forget, but a wound caused by words is never forgotten.’ He told the man never to return to the forest.