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The Squirrel and the Wolf

A Squirrel was leaping from limb to limb, and fell directly upon a sleeping Wolf. The Wolf jumped up, and was going to devour him. But the Squirrel begged the Wolf to let him go.

The Wolf said:⁠—

“All right; I will let you go on condition that you tell me why it is that you squirrels are always so happy. I am always melancholy; but I see you playing and leaping all the time in the trees.”

The Squirrel said:⁠—

“Let me go first, and then I will tell you; but now I am afraid of you.”

The Wolf let him go, and the Squirrel leaped up into a tree, and from there it said:⁠—

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