220.The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts
THE LION once gave out that he was sick unto death and summoned the animals to come and hear his last Will and Testament. So the Goat came to the Lion’s cave, and stopped there listening for a long time. Then a Sheep went in, and before she came out a Calf came up to receive the last wishes of the Lord of the Beasts. But soon the Lion seemed to recover, and came to the mouth of his cave, and saw the Fox, who had been waiting outside for some time. “Why do you not come to pay your respects to me?” said the Lion to the Fox.
“I beg your Majesty’s pardon,” said the Fox, “but I noticed the track of the animals that have already come to you; and while I see many hoof-marks going in, I see none coming out. Till the animals that have entered your cave come out again I prefer to remain in the open air.”
“IT IS EASIER TO GET INTO THE ENEMY’S TOILS THAN OUT AGAIN.”
219.The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox
A LION and a bear seized a kid at the same moment, and fought fiercely for its possession. When they had fearfully lacerated each other and were faint from the long combat, they lay down exhausted with fatigue.
A fox, who had gone round them at a distance several times, saw them both stretched on the ground with the kid lying untouched in the middle. He ran in between them, and seising the kid scampered off as fast as he could. The lion and the bear saw him, but not being able to get up, said,
“Woe be to us, that we should have fought and striven only to serve the turn of a fox.”
❖ As long as two kingfishers fight one another over a fish, none of them gets it.
❖ It sometimes happens that one man has all the toil, and another all the profit.
218.The Lion, Sir Success, and the Elephant
THE LION wearied Sir Success with his frequent complaints.
“It is true, Sir Success,” he said, “that I am gigantic in strength, handsome in shape, and powerful in attack. I have jaws well provided with teeth, and feet furnished with claws, and I lord it over all the beasts of the forest, and what a disgrace it is, that being such as I am, I should be frightened by the crowing of a cock.”
Sir Success replied, “Why do you blame me without a cause? I have given you all the attributes which I possess myself, and your courage never fails you except in this one instance.”
On hearing this, the lion groaned and lamented very much and, reproaching himself with his cowardice, wished that he might die. As these thoughts passed through his mind, he met an elephant and came close to hold a conversation with him. After a time he observed that the elephant shook his ears very often, and he inquired what the matter was and why his ears moved with such a tremor every now and then. Just at that moment a gnat settled on the head of the elephant, and he replied,
“Do you see that little buzzing insect? If it enters my ear, my fate is sealed. I should die presently.”
The lion said, “Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat, I will no more complain, nor wish myself dead. I find myself, even as I am, better off than the elephant.”
❖ Who confesses inferiority can’t call it superiority too.
❖ How can inferiority that is confessed or shared, be made better for it?
217.The Lion in Love
A LION demanded the daughter of a woodcutter in marriage. The father, unwilling to grant, and yet afraid to refuse his request, hit on this expedient to rid himself of his importunities. He expressed his willingness to accept the lion as the suitor of his daughter on one condition: that he should allow him to extract his teeth, and cut off his claws, as his daughter was fearfully afraid of both.
The lion cheerfully assented to the proposal. But when the toothless, clawless lion returned to repeat his request, the woodman, no longer afraid, set on him with his club, and drove him away into the forest.
❖ Even the wildest can be tamed by love.
