It is told that there was a big ewe living with her seven small lambs in the forest, living a happy life. She didn’t know her enemy except the existence of the wicked wolf who tried repeatedly and continuously to eat the small lambs. One day, the ewe mother went out to bring food for her small children. She advised them not to play together and not to open the door to any stranger, so the wicked wolf wouldn’t come and eat them.
The mother left the house after she had kissed her seven small lambs. At that time, the wicked wolf was watching the house, waiting for the departure of the mother until he was left alone with the small lambs, for he was extremely greedy for lamb meat. When the mother disappeared from the limit of his sight, he advanced with heavy steps and knocked on the door, saying, “Welcome, my little children. Open the door for your mother, dear. I’ve brought you delicious food.”
But the seven lambs were intelligent and could distinguish the wolf’s voice, for it was completely different from their mother’s, the ewe’s voice. They said to him, “You’re not our mother. You’re the wicked wolf. Your voice is very different from hers. So we won’t open the door for you. Go away, wicked wolf, and don’t try to deceive us.”
The wolf kept thinking about another trick with which he could deceive the seven lambs. He returned again to knock on their door. But that time he imitated the mother’s voice. He began saying, “Open, my dear small children. I’ve come to you with food. Hurry, I’m tired and want to rest in the house.” But the seven lambs were very intelligent. Before they opened the door, they looked from the magic hole in the door and saw the wolf’s feet. They knew he had come to eat them. So they said to him, “We won’t open the door, oh wicked wolf. We’ve known you from your feet. Our mother’s feet are white, but yours are black.”
The wolf went immediately to the mill place and asked the miller to dust flour on his feet. The miller was surprised at his request but did it fearing the wicked wolf. A second time, the wolf went to the house of the seven lambs and began knocking on the door, calling in a soft voice, imitating the ewe mother, saying, “My little children, open the door. Your mother has returned with delicious food.” The seven lambs looked from the hole in the door and saw the white feet color. So they thought their mother had returned indeed.
But when they opened the door, they were surprised to find the wolf standing before them opening his mouth ready to eat them. The lambs screamed, and each of them hurried to hide. But the wicked wolf managed to know their places and ate them all except one small lamb that could hide in the big closet on the wall.
After a period, the mother returned happy to her small lambs with delicious kinds of food. But when she saw the house door open on its hinges, she realized her children had been exposed to danger. She ran quickly searching for them in the corners of the house but without avail. She heard the small lamb weeping in the closet and said to her, “I’m here, Mother. Bring me down.”
Immediately the ewe mother stood lowering the small lamb and began kissing her. Her daughter told her everything that had happened to them since she left the house until the wolf entered and ate her six lambs. The ewe mother entered immediately to the kitchen, brought the cleaver, and she and her daughter went out searching for the wicked wolf. She saw him sleeping in the forest by the well of the house. She took the cleaver and opened his belly.
She found the six lambs still alive inside. He hadn’t digested them yet. She hurried to take them out. Afterward she sewed up some stones and put them in his belly, then sewed him as he was. When the wolf woke up, he felt extreme thirst. He went to drink from the water well. When his belly filled with water, he felt weight and heaviness. He lost his balance and fell in the well and drowned in it forever, for the stones prevented him from climbing up. From her day, the ewe mother lives with her small lambs, the seven, in peace and happiness.
Translated from A Wolf and Seven Lambs