A shepherd had a faithful dog, called Sultan, who was grown very old, and had lost all his teeth. And one day when the shepherd and his wife were standing together before the house the shepherd said, ‘I will shoot old Sultan tomorrow morning, for he is of no use now.’ But his wife said, ‘Pray let the poor faithful creature live; he has served us well a great many years, and we ought to give him a livelihood for the rest of his days.’ ‘But what can we do with him?’ said the shepherd, ‘he has not a tooth in his head, and the thieves don’t care for him at all; to be sure he has served us, but then he did it to earn his livelihood; tomorrow shall be his last day, depend upon it.’
一位牧羊人有一只忠诚的狗，名叫苏丹，它已年迈体衰，掉光了牙齿。一天，牧羊人和他的妻子站在屋前，牧羊人说：‘我明天早上就要射死老苏丹了，因为它现在毫无用处。’但他的妻子说：‘求你让这只可怜的忠实生灵活下去吧；它为我们服务了许多年，我们应当让它安度余生。’‘可是我们拿它怎么办呢？’牧羊人说，‘它嘴里连一颗牙都没有，小偷根本不在乎它；当然，它确实为我们服务过，但那是为了换取生计；明天就是它的最后一天了，你等着瞧吧。’
Poor Sultan, who was lying close by them, heard all that the shepherd and his wife said to one another, and was very much frightened to think tomorrow would be his last day; so in the evening he went to his good friend the wolf, who lived in the wood, and told him all his sorrows, and how his master meant to kill him in the morning. ‘Make yourself easy,’ said the wolf, ‘I will give you some good advice. Your master, you know, goes out every morning very early with his wife into the field; and they take their little child with them, and lay it down behind the hedge in the shade while they are at work. Now do you lie down close by the child, and pretend to be watching it, and I will come out of the wood and run away with it; you must run after me as fast as you can, and I will let it drop; then you may carry it back, and they will think you have saved their child, and will be so thankful to you that they will take care of you as long as you live.’ The dog liked this plan very well; and accordingly so it was managed. The wolf ran with the child a little way; the shepherd and his wife screamed out; but Sultan soon overtook him, and carried the poor little thing back to his master and mistress. Then the shepherd patted him on the head, and said, ‘Old Sultan has saved our child from the wolf, and therefore he shall live and be well taken care of, and have plenty to eat. Wife, go home, and give him a good dinner, and let him have my old cushion to sleep on as long as he lives.’ So from this time forward Sultan had all that he could wish for.
可怜的苏丹正躺在他们身旁，听到了牧羊人和他妻子之间的全部对话，想到明天就是自己的末日，心中十分惊恐；于是傍晚时分，它去找住在树林里的好朋友狼，向它倾诉了自己的悲伤，并告诉它主人打算在早晨杀死自己。‘别担心，’狼说，‘我给你出个好主意。你知道，你的主人每天清晨都会很早带着妻子下地干活；他们还会带上他们的小孩子，把孩子在篱笆后的阴凉处放下，然后开始劳作。现在你就躺在孩子身边，假装在守护它，我会从树林里出来把孩子叼走；你必须拼命追赶我，等我松开嘴时，你就可以把孩子带回，他们会以为是你救下了他们的孩子，从而对你感激不尽，只要你还活着，他们就会照顾你。’狗非常赞同这个计划，于是事情就这样安排好了。狼叼着孩子跑了一段路，牧羊人和他的妻子大声尖叫起来；但苏丹很快追上了它，把可怜的小家伙带回了主人身边。随后，牧羊人抚摸着它的头说：‘老苏丹从狼口里救下了我们的孩子，因此它必须活下去，得到妥善照顾，并且吃个饱。老婆，回家去，给它做顿好饭，把我的旧垫子让它一直睡到死为止。’从此以后，苏丹想要的一切都有了。
Soon afterwards the wolf came and wished him joy, and said, ‘Now, my good fellow, you must tell no tales, but turn your head the other way when I want to taste one of the old shepherd’s fine fat sheep.’ ‘No,’ said the Sultan; ‘I will be true to my master.’ However, the wolf thought he was in joke, and came one night to get a dainty morsel. But Sultan had told his master what the wolf meant to do; so he laid wait for him behind the barn door, and when the wolf was busy looking out for a good fat sheep, he had a stout cudgel laid about his back, that combed his locks for him finely.
不久之后，狼前来祝贺，说：‘现在，我的好朋友，你绝不能泄露秘密，当我想吃一只老牧羊人那些肥美绵羊时，就把头转过去。’‘不，’苏丹说，‘我会忠于我的主人。’然而，狼以为它在开玩笑，于是有一天晚上来偷吃美味。但苏丹早已将狼的意图告诉了主人；所以他在谷仓门后埋伏下来，当狼正忙着寻找肥美的绵羊时，一记结实的棍棒重重地打在它背上，把它的毛都打乱了。
Then the wolf was very angry, and called Sultan ‘an old rogue,’ and swore he would have his revenge. So the next morning the wolf sent the boar to challenge Sultan to come into the wood to fight the matter. Now Sultan had nobody he could ask to be his second but the shepherd’s old three-legged cat; so he took her with him, and as the poor thing limped along with some trouble, she stuck up her tail straight in the air.
狼非常愤怒，骂苏丹是‘老无赖’，并发誓要报复。于是第二天早上，狼派野猪去挑战苏丹，要求它到树林里来决斗。现在，苏丹找不到可以当副手的人，只好请牧羊人那只三条腿的老猫帮忙；于是它带着猫一同前往，可怜的家伙一瘸一拐地走着，把尾巴高高地竖在空中。
The wolf and the wild boar were first on the ground; and when they espied their enemies coming, and saw the cat’s long tail standing straight in the air, they thought she was carrying a sword for Sultan to fight with; and every time she limped, they thought she was picking up a stone to throw at them; so they said they should not like this way of fighting, and the boar lay down behind a bush, and the wolf jumped up into a tree. Sultan and the cat soon came up, and looked about and wondered that no one was there. The boar, however, had not quite hidden himself, for his ears stuck out of the bush; and when he shook one of them a little, the cat, seeing something move, and thinking it was a mouse, sprang upon it, and bit and scratched it, so that the boar jumped up and grunted, and ran away, roaring out, ‘Look up in the tree, there sits the one who is to blame.’ So they looked up, and espied the wolf sitting amongst the branches; and they called him a cowardly rascal, and would not suffer him to come down till he was heartily ashamed of himself, and had promised to be good friends again with old Sultan.
狼和野猪最先到达现场；当他们看到敌人走来，又看见猫竖起长长的尾巴直冲天空时，便以为她正手持利剑为苏丹助战；每当她一瘸一拐地走，他们又以为她在拾起石头准备投掷。于是他们说这种打法实在令人难以接受，野猪随即躲到灌木丛后，狼则跳上了一棵树。苏丹和猫很快赶到，四处张望，却不见任何人影。然而野猪并未完全藏好，他的耳朵还露在灌木丛外；当他轻轻抖动其中一只耳朵时，猫看到动静，误以为是老鼠，便扑上去又咬又抓，弄得野猪惊跳起来哼哼着逃窜，一边大喊：‘抬头看树上，那才是罪魁祸首！’于是他们抬头望去，果然看见狼正坐在树枝间。他们斥责他是懦弱的无赖，直到他羞愧难当，并承诺与老苏丹重归于好，才允许他下来。