The lion the wolf and the fox is one of Aesop’s popular fables in English with a video and podcast. Practice reading comprehension and improve your vocabulary in real context with this symbolic story.
Source of story: Gutenberg Project at www.gutenberg.org
The Lion the Wolf and the Fox
A lion, growing old, lay sick in his cave. All the beasts came to visit their king, except the fox.
The wolf therefore, thinking that he had a capital opportunity, accused the fox to the lion of not paying any respect to him who had the rule over them all and of not coming to visit him.
At that very moment, the fox came in and heard these last words of the wolf. The lion roaring out in a rage against him, the fox sought an opportunity to defend himself and said:
“And who of all those who have come to you have benefited you so much as I, who have traveled from place to place in every direction, and have sought and learnt from the physicians the means of healing you?”
The lion commanded him immediately to tell him the cure, when he replied, “You must flay a wolf alive and wrap his skin yet warm around you.”
The wolf was at once taken and flayed; whereon the fox, turning to him, said with a smile, “You should have moved your master not to ill, but to good, will.
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Hello Dr.Hariri,
I have few questions from the story.
1. what does this sentence mean => ( the means of healing you )
Does (mean) here means the cure?
2. (you must wrap his skin yet warm around you.) what does (yet) here means?
3. (in a rage against him) what does this phrase mean?
Hi. I would be more than happy to answer all of your questions.
1. “Means” as a noun has the meaning of a way, method or instrument with which you can do something special. I think I’ve explained about that in the video at the bottom of the lesson, yet that’s quite OK to ask us as many questions as you wish.
2. Yet in this context presents a temporal (time-related) condition and it signifies that you should wrap his skin around your neck while it is still warm. In other words, you should “immediately” wrap his skin around your neck (on this very condition).
3. In a rage against him = extremely violently and in a furious or angry manner, the lion criticized or attacked the fox for not visiting him earlier.