Long, long ago, a lion lived in a forest; he was the king of the forest. He had many animals as his followers, but his chief assistant was a jackal. He would kill his prey and after he had his fill, he gave the rest to the jackal.
Then one day, the lion had a fight with an elephant. He was badly wounded and could not go out to hunt. The jackal was miserable, because he too had nothing to eat. When the lion could not bear his hunger any more, he asked the jackal to go and fetch something for him to eat.
The jackal failed to find anything in the forest. So, he went into a village outside the forest to look for a suitable prey. He saw a thin miserable-looking donkey eating grass at a riverside. He decided to take him for the lion, but he had to persuade him first. So, he called out to him as if he was an old friend. He asked him, “How are you? You seem to be very thin.”
The grumpy old donkey told, “I belong to a washerman in the village. He makes me carry heavy loads but he feeds me so badly that I am becoming more and more weak.”
“Then why do you stay here with him? Come with me to the forest. It’ll be much better there,” said the jackal.
“What is there in the forest. I’ll be miserable there too,” grumbled the donkey.
“Oh, no! There is rich grass and you will have lots of green leaves. You will have many friends. There are also three very good-looking she-donkeys. I am sure you’d love to make friends with them too,” said the sly jackal.
The donkey was finally lured to leave the village and go along with the jackal to the forest. When they reached there, it was night. The jackal took him to the place where the lion was waiting. The lion was very hungry and impatient. So as soon as he saw the donkey, he swiped at him with his paw.
The donkey ran for his life, braying in fright. The jackal ran after him and caught up at the outskirts of the forest. “Wait! Wait! Why are you running away?” asked the jackal. “Didn’t you see that creature trying to attack me?” asked the scared donkey. “Attack you? No! It was the she-donkey trying to make a loving gesture!” said the sly jackal.
“Are you sure?” said the donkey, thoroughly confused.
“Of course! Come and have a look,” said the jackal.
And the poor stupid donkey went right back with him. This time, the lion did not make any mistake. He caught the donkey and killed him.
