Then the wolf’s wicked eyes gleamed, for his turn was next, and he said: “If the pig has swill because he wants swill to eat, I must have what I want to eat, and I want a tender lamb, six months old.” And at that all the lambs and the sheep bleated and baaed.
“Ha, ha!” barked the fox; “then I want a turkey!” And the turkeys gobbled in fear.
“And I,” said the tiger, “want a yearling calf.” And the cows and the calves lowed in horror.
“And I,” said the owl, the clerk, “I want a plump dove.”
“And I,” said the hawk, “will take a rabbit.”
“And I,” said the leopard, “want a deer or a gazelle.”
Then all was fear and uproar. The hares and the rabbits scuttled into the grass; the gazelles and the deer bounded away; the sheep and cattle crowded close together; the small birds rose in the air in flocks; and the Christmas tree was like to have come to grief and ended, not in Christmas joy, but in fear and hatred and terror.
Then a little timid lamb stepped out and bleated: “Ah! king lion, it would be very sad if all the animals should lose their Christmas tree, for the very thought of that tree has brought us closer together, and here we were, wild and tame, fierce and timid, met together as friends; and oh! king lion, rather than there should not be a tree, they may take me and hang me on it. Let them not take the turkeys and gazelles and the calves and the rabbits, and all the rest that they have chosen. Let the tigers and leopards, and wolves and foxes and eagles, and hawks and owls and all their kind be content that their Christmas present shall be a lamb; and so we may come together again and have our happy Christmas tree, and each have what he wishes.”
“But,” said the lion, “what will you have? If you give yourself, then you will have no Christmas present.”
“Yes,” said the lamb, “I, too, shall have what I want, for I shall have brought them all together again, and made each one happy.”