There once was a gray wolf and a very clever goat.
The gray wolf was 8 years old.
And yes, he was old. In nature, wolves are usually only between 6 and 8 years old, at most 13 years old. In captivity, for example in a zoo, they can be up to 16 years old.
The goat gets afraid when he sees the wolf standing in front of him. "Don't eat me, don't eat me, I am old," he cries to the wolf.
"How old are you?" the wolf asks.
"I am fifteen years old," replies the goat.
Goats are usually between 15 and 18 years old. The oldest goat ever found was 24 years old.
"You are old meat," says the wolf to the goat, "I don't like old meat".
"Well?" says the goat, "I don't taste good either, and I am very small. I weigh only thirteen pounds, I will not give enough meat to satisfy a hungry wolf like yourself".
A hungry wolf can eat up to 20 pounds of meat in one single meal.
The wolf thinks and thinks for a while, and finally he says, "Okay, I will not eat you. But you have to find me something else I can eat. I've come from far away and I am very hungry. I've been swimming more than five and half miles to get here".
Wolves can swim up to 8 miles in one stretch.
"Have you ever tasted goat milk?" the goat suggests.
"I don't drink milk," replies the wolf.
"Grass?" suggests the goat again.
"I'm a predator, carnivorous animal. I eat other animals!" the wolf replies, a little irritated and impatient.
"Okay, I'll soon get a good idea. Just give me some time, maybe half an hour, and I will find you the best meat you've ever tasted."
"Listen, don't try something stupid" says the wolf, "I can run at a top speed of forty-three miles per hour and I can jump sixteen feet at a time. If you try to run away I will catch you and eat you right away, even if you are old meat, you understand?".
Goats are very intelligent and curious animals. They explore and investigate everything that is unknown around them. The clever goat then begins to think and think, and he uses a longtime in purpose, thinking and thinking. And slowly, the gray wolf becomes tired, and getting more and more hungry until he finally falls asleep. And when he wakes up half an hour later, the goat was already gone.
"Where did the goat go?" the wolf wonders, confused as he looks around.
The clever goat had jumped four feet up in a tree beside them and hid there.
Some goat species, for example mountain goats, can jump eleven feet long and up to four feet high into the air.
Although wolves can smell other animals from over a mile and a half away, the gray wolf is too tired and too old and hungry to smell the clever goat who is hiding up in the tree right beside him, and eventually, he gives up and goes his way.
THE END
