Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
321. THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
Perry 451 (Nikephoros
Basilakis, in Walz, Rhetores Graeci)
You can get into trouble by wearing a disguise.
A wolf once decided to change his nature by changing his appearance, and
thus get plenty to eat. He put on a sheepskin and accompanied the flock
to the pasture. The shepherd was fooled by the disguise. When night fell,
the shepherd shut up the wolf in the fold with the rest of the sheep and
as the fence was placed across the entrance, the sheepfold was securely
closed off. But when the shepherd wanted a sheep for his supper, he took
his knife and killed... the wolf.
Someone who wears a disguise often loses his life and finds that his
performance occasions a major catastrophe.
Note: Compare the Biblical 'wolf in sheep's clothing' (Matthew
7.15).
 Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
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