One sunny day, a Wolf sat quenching his thirst at a calm hillside spring. As he lapped up the cool water, he saw from the corner of his eye, a Lamb drinking from the same spring a little lower down the hill.
“There’s my supper,” he thought. “It looks like easy prey, but I must think of a way to open up a quarrel with him.” He then called out to the Lamb, “how dare you muddy the water from which I am drinking!”
“Oh no!” cried the Lamb, “it cannot be me making your water muddy. The water runs down from you to me and surely, I cannot be the cause of it.”
“Well then, exactly a year ago at this very spot you called me bad names. Why did you do that?“ tried the Wolf once more.
“I could not have called you names,” said the Lamb, “for I am only six months old.”
“I don’t care,” snarled the Wolf, “if it was not you, then it was your father!”
And with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and gobbled it up.
But before it died it gasped out— “ANY EXCUSE WILL SERVE A TYRANT.”