A Goat stood on a mountain ledge high above the rest of the animals that lived down in the valley far below.

 A Wolf spotting the goat, tried climbing up to it, but the goat was nimble footed and eagle eyed and saw the wolf coming from a distance and sought to secure a position where it couldn’t be reached.

The Wolf shouted out to the Goat – “Why do you keep living your life on a cliff edge with the constant risk of falling off your lofty position. Have you not heard – that all the animals in the valley have finally reached an agreement and have decided to forget all their differences and live in total peace and friendship from this point forward. The grass is greener, more plentiful and the terrain is more easy going. Come down from your cliff top as we are now all good friends and have reason to celebrate together.

“That’s fantastic news – I am so pleased to hear it” – replied the goat.

But as the Goat spoke, he looked up and seemed to be staring at something far into the distance.
“What are you looking at now” – said the Wolf – “come down and share the good news”.

“Well, I have just seen a pack of dogs coming towards us. They must have heard about the good news too and are heading this way” – he shared with the Wolf. As soon as he heard this, the Wolf leapt down from the cliff and began to rapidly head off in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?” – said the Goat – “It’s OK, the Dogs are your friends now as well”.

“Yes well” – snarled the Wolf, “they might not yet have heard the news and I’ve just remembered that I’ve got some other important matters to attend to right now”.

The Goat smiled to himself and settled down on his mountain ledge. This was his mountain and he wasn’t going to be tricked into climbing down until he decided he was ready to.

And the Moral of the story is:
You can’t trick a trickster – those who have achieved high positions have got there for a reason.

Aesop’s Fables c.600 B.C.