Mindset story: The Greedy Wolf and the Missed Opportunities

One morning, a hungry wolf set out to find something to eat. He hadn’t gone far when he spotted a little mouse snoozing under a tree. It looked like the perfect meal—small, easy to catch, and right there for the taking. The wolf thought to himself, “What good luck! This will make a delicious breakfast.” He crouched, ready to pounce, but right before he was about to make his move, a rabbit came hopping through the clearing. The wolf’s eyes lit up as he quickly changed his mind. “Why settle for a tiny mouse,” he thought, “when a rabbit is bigger and tastier? If I catch the rabbit, I won’t need to eat again until much later.” Leaving the mouse behind, the wolf raced after the rabbit, his paws pounding the ground. Just as he was about to catch it, a deer nearby was startled by the chase and bolted into the woods. The wolf froze, staring at the graceful creature. He was already a bit tired, but he couldn’t resist the thought of an even bigger meal. “Now that would be a feast,” he thought. “If I catch the deer, I won’t have to hunt again for an entire week.”

With fresh determination, the wolf abandoned the rabbit and sped after the deer. But the deer was fast, and the wolf, already weary from chasing the rabbit, began to fall behind. Just as he was ready to give up, he spotted something even more tempting—a horse grazing in a nearby meadow. The wolf’s hunger and greed swelled. “A horse!” he thought. “What amazing luck! If I can catch the horse, I’ll have enough food to last for months. No more hunting, no more running around.” Summoning every ounce of strength, the wolf charged toward the horse. But the horse wasn’t afraid. It stood tall, its powerful legs ready to react to the danger. As the wolf approached, the horse reared back and kicked with such force that the wolf barely dodged in time. Panting and shaken, the wolf finally realized he had gone too far. “I’ve wasted all my energy,” he thought. “I should go back to the deer.” But when he returned, the deer was gone. “Maybe I’ll settle for the rabbit, then,” he decided. Yet, when he got back to the spot where he’d left it, the rabbit was nowhere to be found.

With a heavy heart, the wolf muttered, “At least I still have the mouse.” But when he reached the tree, the mouse was gone too. All the noise from chasing the rabbit, deer, and horse had woken it up, and it had scurried away to safety. The wolf sat under the tree, his empty stomach rumbling with hunger. He thought sadly, “What a pity I didn’t take the chance I had when it was right in front of me. Instead, I wasted my time and energy chasing things I could never catch.” And so, the wolf learned a hard lesson that day, and that is that greed and impatience can leave you with nothing at all.