Short story “Wolf” by Leo Tolstoy (Translation by Sofiya Samoylenko)

Once there was a boy. He liked to eat chickens very much but at the same time he was very much afraid of wolves. Once this boy went to bed and fell asleep. In his dream he was walking in the woods and picking mushrooms when all of a sudden a wolf jumped out of the bushes and attacked the boy.

The boy got scared and started yelling: “Ou, ou! He’s gonna eat me!”

The wolf spoke: “Wait, I don’t want to eat you, I just want to talk to you!” Unexpectedly the wolf started speaking with a human voice.

And so he said: “You are afraid that I’m going to eat you. However, look at yourself. Do you like chickens?”

“I do.” — replied the boy.

“So, why do you eat them? After all they are as alive as you are. Every single morning they’re being caught, brought to the kitchen by the cook and their throats are cut. Their mom clucks because she misses them. Is this situation familiar to you?” — asked the wolf.

“No” — answered the boy.

“However, it should be.” — said the wolf.

And now I’m going to eat you. You are exactly the same chicken for me — so I’ll eat you. So the wolf attacked the boy and the boy got scared and started yelling: “Ou, ou, ou!”

Started yelling and woke up. And ever since then the boy stopped eating meat — he ate neither beef nor veal and neither lamb nor chicken.