Anecdote Of The Week: Does A Tyrant Need A Reason D'Etre?

"One day a Wolf met a Lamb who had strayed from the field. The Wolf resolved not to kill the Lamb without a good excuse that would justify his right to eat him.

So he said, 'Ah, you are the Lamb who insulted me so harshly last year.'

'Indeed no,' bleated the Lamb. 'A year ago, I was not yet born.'

The Wolf tried again. 'Then you must be the Lamb that feeds in my pasture.'

'No, good sir,' the Lamb protested, 'I have not yet tasted grass.'

'Well,' snapped the Wolf, 'then you are the Lamb who drinks from my well.'

'No!' exclaimed the Lamb, 'I have no need of water, for my mother's milk is both food and drink to me.'

Seizing the Lamb, the Wolf snarled, 'I will have my supper- even though you deny everyone of my accusations!' As the Lamb struggled to be free, he thought, 'Any excuse will serve a tyrant.'"- An Aesop Fable