“And the wolves whimpered: ‘We’ve been so starvation hungry, too!’
“But Mother Nature looked at their fat sides and she said: ‘Show me your teeth.’
“And their teeth were perfectly sharp and new. And they still are.
“So Mother Nature frowned at them until they cringed. And they trembled so hard that their very claws clattered. For they knew that they had misbehaved and something serious would come of it. Then she asked: ‘What have you been eating?’
“‘Just dead beasts that we found lying about,’ they whined.
“Mother Nature looked at the poor cows, but the cows wouldn’t tell on the wicked wolves. Only they scratched the earth with their feet and sent it flying over their shoulders the way they do when they’re angry. Then she said: ‘Cows will always be angry with you like that because they smell the blood on you. Oh, wolves, it is bad to lie, but it is terrible to kill!’
“Of course the wolves knew that they had been found out, so they tried to look brave and answered: ‘We are too clever to starve like a stupid cow.’
“But Mother Nature shook her head sadly. ‘You’ll find that it’s better to be good and stupid than to be bad and clever. But bad and clever you will be to the end of all wolves, and the stupid cow will live to see the last of you. Cows, how shall I punish them?’
“Then the cows roared like a raging river: ‘Give us back our teeth and we’ll do it ourselves!’
“‘I can’t do that,’ she explained, ‘because nothing that has been lived can be done over again, but I can give you something newer and longer and sharper than the teeth of any wolf.’