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Goat and the Wolf

THE GOAT AND THE WOLF

Once there was a pious householder who dedicated Billy Goat to a holy mountain as livestock, and released it on top of a holy mountain. By day Billy Goat grazed on the mountain top, by night he came down to the base to drink, and his days and nights passed like this.

One day, he met hungry Wolf on the bank of a gravelly river at the foot of a mountain. Billy Goat thought, “Today hungry Wolf will eat me for sure, so I have to counterattack with whatever ability I have.” He stood and pointed his horns at Wolf.

Wolf was somewhat astonished and asked with a smile, “Billy Goat, what are those things, as hard as an eight-pointed vajra, you have on your head?”

Billy Goat bragged, “These are adamantine horns to stop carnivores, granted to me by Brahma.”

Wolf said, “How strong are they? Can you show me?”

Billy Goat said, “Oh, wait here, and I can show you.” He came running from far away and butted Wolf, hitting him in the belly. “Alas, too low this time, too low! I’ll hit you again,” he said. Billy Goat came running from far away and missed high. “Alas, too high this time! I’ll really hit you again. This time I’ll hit you neither too high nor too low.”

When Wolf saw that he was going to butt him, he got scared, and evaded Billy Goat, making the excuse that he had something else to do.

When Wolf forded the stream and looked back, he saw that after taking a leisurely drink of water, Billy Goat pointed his horns towards a boulder and slept. Again his mouth watered for goat meat and when he returned, Billy Goat said, “Wolf, wait a bit. After I’ve sharpened my horns on the boulder, I’ll show off my martial skills.” When he said that, Wolf fled—leaping, running and trotting—to a far-off land. Thus, Billy Goat relied on his intelligence and escaped the mouth of hungry Wolf.

—Collected by Mkha' 'gro

Folk Story Amdo
Goat and the Wolf
Collection Tibetan Children's Stories
Visibility Public - accessible to all site users (default)
Author Collected by Mkha' 'gro
Translator Larry Epstein
Subjects
Places
UID mandala-texts-50281
DOI
Creative Commons Licence