Story
A Wolf, prowling the banks of a stream, came upon a young Lamb drinking from the water. The Wolf, noting that the Lamb was tender and would make a satisfying meal, began to formulate pretexts by which he might justify his attack.
"Why do you muddy the water from which I am drinking?" demanded the Wolf, his voice filled with feigned indignation.
The Lamb, startled and trembling, replied with perfect truth: "Great Wolf, I do not muddy the water. Indeed, I stand downstream from you, so the water flows from you to me. Any muddying of the water would be caused by your drinking, not by mine."
The Wolf, stymied by this logical response but not abandoning his predatory intention, continued with another accusation: "Then you must have spoken ill of me last year to my discredit among the other beasts!"
The Lamb, innocent of any such transgression, replied: "I was not yet born last year, so I could not possibly have spoken of you at all."
The Wolf, pressed again by truth, advanced yet another false accusation: "Your mother must have then spoken against me, and I hold you accountable for her words!"
At this point, the Lamb, recognizing that no truthful answer would satisfy the Wolf, whose mind was already made up to do violence, began to weep. "My mother has always spoken well of you, and I know of no wrong she has done to you. Why do you seek reasons to harm me when you require no justification? If you are determined to eat me, then do so without pretense. Do not clothe your violence in false accusations and mock justice."
The Wolf, enraged that his hypocrisy had been exposed, seized the Lamb and devoured it, his cruelty undisguised at last.
Thus did the Lamb's innocence and truthfulness avail nothing against a creature whose mind was predeterminded toward violence. Justice, when confronted with one determined to commit injustice, offers no defense.