There was once a lion in a part of a forest, and his name was Rough-Claw. One day he found nothing whatever to eat in his wanderings, and his throat was pinched by hunger. At sunset he came to a great mountain cave and went in, for he thought: “Surely, some animal will come into this cave during the night. I will hide and wait.”

Presently the owner of the cave, a jackal named Curd-Face, came to the door and began to sing: “Cave ahoy! Cave aho-oy!” Then after a moment’s silence, he continued in the same tone: “Hello! Don’t you remember how you and I made an agreement that I was to speak to you when I came back from the world outside, and that you were to sing out to me? But you won’t speak to me today. So I am going off to that other cave, which will return my greeting.”

Now when he heard this, the lion thought: “I see. This cave always calls out a greeting when the fellow returns. But today, from fear of me it doesn’t say a word. This is natural enough. For

The feet and hands refuse to act

When peril terrifies;

A trembling seizes every limb;

And speech unuttered dies.

“I will myself call out a greeting, which he will follow to its source, so providing me with a dinner.”

The lion thereupon called out a greeting. But the cave so magnified the roar that its echo filled the circuit of the horizon, thus terrifying other forest creatures as well, even those far distant. Meanwhile the jackal made off repeating the stanza:

Joy comes from knowing what to dread,

And sorrow smites the dunderhead:

A long life through, the woods I’ve walked,

But never heard a cave that talked.

“Take this to heart and come with me.” And Red-Eye, having made his decision, departed for another fortress, accompanied by a retinue of followers.

At Red-Eye’s departure, Live-Strong was overjoyed. And he reflected: “Very good, indeed. Red-Eye’S flight is a blessing to us. For he was farsighted, while the rest are numskulls. I can easily destroy them now. For the proverb says:

If no farsighted counselors,

Long-tried, secure,

Aid him, the downfall of a king

Is swift and sure.

And there is sound reasoning in this:

The shrewd discover enemies

Disguised as friends

In senseless counselors whose speech

To evil tends.”

After these reflections, he dropped each day one fagot from the forest into his own nest, with the ultimate purpose of setting the cave afire. Nor did the owls, poor fools, perceive that he was building up his nest in order to burn them alive. Well, there is sense in the saying:

Cause your friends no bitter woes;

Do not fraternize with foes;

Friends, when lost, are friends no more;

Enemies were lost before.

Thus, pretending to build a nest, Live-Strong constructed a woodpile at the fortress gate. Then at sunrise, when the owls became blind, he hastened away and