Speaker 1: Old Sultan. Sultan had guarded the farmer's house for many years. Now,
Speaker 1: his muzzle was gray, his legs were stiff, and most
Speaker 1: of his teeth were gone. One evening, he heard the
Speaker 1: farmer speaking to his wife. Sultan is too old to
Speaker 1: be useful, the farmer said, tomorrow I will get rid
Speaker 1: of him. His wife objected. He served us faithfully. He
Speaker 1: deserves food and a warm place for the rest of
Speaker 1: his life, but the farmer would not listen. Sultan remembered
Speaker 1: following the farmer through winter snow when both were young.
Speaker 1: He remembered barking at a chimney fire until the family woke.
Speaker 1: He had never counted those things as favors. They had
Speaker 1: simply been his work. Sultan crept away to the forest
Speaker 1: and found his old friend, the wolf. Do not worry,
Speaker 1: said the wolf. Tomorrow, when the family is in the hayfield,
Speaker 1: we will make it appear that you saved their child
Speaker 1: from me. Your master will remember how much he needs you.
Speaker 1: Sultan disliked frightening the child, but he was desperate. The
Speaker 1: Next day, while the farmer and his wife worked near by,
Speaker 1: the wolf carried out the frightening trick. Sultan chased him
Speaker 1: at once. A moment later, the child was safe on
Speaker 1: the grass with Sultan's standing guard. When the farmer arrived.
Speaker 1: Our old dog saved him, cried the farmer. He stroked
Speaker 1: Sultan's head and promised that the dog would be cared
Speaker 1: for all his days. That evening, Sultan received soft bread
Speaker 1: soaked in gravy and a cushion near the stove. Several
Speaker 1: nights later, the wolf came to the farm. I helped you,
Speaker 1: he said. Now you must help me. Look away while
Speaker 1: I take one sheep. Sultan stood up from his cushion.
Speaker 1: I cannot the farmer trusts me to guard them. You
Speaker 1: have plenty of sheep, said the wolf. None of them
Speaker 1: are mine to give, and the baby was yours to frighten.
Speaker 1: Sultan had no quick answer. The rescue had saved him,
Speaker 1: but it had also been a trick. He wished the
Speaker 1: farmer had remembered his years of service without needing a
Speaker 1: new performance. The wolf showed his teeth. Then I will
Speaker 1: come tonight and we shall see whether an old dog
Speaker 1: can stop me, Sultan warned the farmer. When darkness came,
Speaker 1: the farmer waded in the barn with a sturdy stick.
Speaker 1: The wolf crept toward the sheep. Sultan barked. The farmer
Speaker 1: rushed out, and the wolf escaped with a sore back
Speaker 1: and no supper from the forest. He howled that Sultan
Speaker 1: had betrayed their friendship. Sultan answered, a favor does not
Speaker 1: buy everything, I believe. The wolf demanded a fight. He
Speaker 1: chose a wild boar as his companion. Sultan asked a
Speaker 1: three legged cat to come with him because the cat
Speaker 1: was the only friend nearby. At dawn, the wolf and
Speaker 1: boar waited in a clearing. The boar sharpened his tusks
Speaker 1: against an oak. The wolf practiced a frightening growl, stopped
Speaker 1: to off, and tried again. Meanwhile, Sultan and the cat
Speaker 1: approached in a slow walk. We are badly outnumbered, said
Speaker 1: the cat. There are two of us and two of them.
Speaker 1: I was counting legs. The cat had only three, and
Speaker 1: Sultan's four were not as dependable as they had once been.
Speaker 1: They saw Sultan approaching beside the cat. The cat's tails
Speaker 1: stood straight up because one leg was shorter. He limped
Speaker 1: and swung his body strangely. Look at that, Saber, whispered
Speaker 1: the boar, mistaking the tail for a weapon. And he
Speaker 1: is picking up stones to throw, said the wolf. Watching
Speaker 1: the cat hop, the boar hid beneath leaves. The wolf
Speaker 1: climbed a tree. When Sultan reached the clearing, nobody seemed
Speaker 1: to be there. Then the cat saw the boar's ear
Speaker 1: twitch beneath the leaves. Thinking it was a mouse, he
Speaker 1: pounced and bit it. The boar sprang up with a
Speaker 1: squeal and crashed through the bushes. The guilty one is
Speaker 1: in the tree, he shouted. He fled. Sultan looked up.
Speaker 1: The wolf climbed down slowly. Neither animal felt eager to
Speaker 1: fight any more. The wolf admitted he had asked for
Speaker 1: something Sultan could not rightly give. Sultan admitted that the
Speaker 1: false rescue had begun their trouble. The boar called from
Speaker 1: the bushes that he had no part in the apology.
Speaker 1: The cat climbed half way up the tree to make
Speaker 1: sure the wolf had truly come down. We could all
Speaker 1: go home, Sultan suggested. For Once everyone agreed, they ended
Speaker 1: the quarrel, though they did not become as close as before.
Speaker 1: Sultan returned to the farm. He still slept near the stove.
Speaker 1: He still guarded the sheep when he heard movement outside.
Speaker 1: Sometimes age made him slow. It did not make him
Speaker 1: forget whose door he watched the end. As always, visit
Speaker 1: us at Readthetale dot com for all your favorite tales
Speaker 1: and stories.