The Lion and The Woodcutter

The Lion and The Woodcutter

There once lived a lion, the king of the forest. He was always accompanied by a jackal and a crow. They followed him every where and lived on the remains of his food.

In a village close to the forest there lived a woodcutter. Everyday, he would go into the forest with his axe to chop wood.

One day as the woodcutter was busy chopping a tree, he heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he saw the lion looking straight at him, ready to pounce. The woodcutter was a clever man. He quickly said, "Greetings... King of this forest. It is a pleasure to meet you."

The lion was surprised. "A pleasure to meet me? Are you not afraid of me?"

"I respect you a lot...lion. I was hoping to meet you. You see, my wife is an excellent cook. I wanted you to taste her dal and vegetables."

"Dal? Vegetables? Don't you know that I eat only flesh?" asked the lion in surprise.

"If you taste my wife's cooking, you will stop eating flesh," said the woodcutter proudly.

The lion was very hungry and he accepted the woodcutter's food.

"Good that the Jackal and the crow are not with me today," thought the lion. "They would laugh at me."

The lion was surprised to find that the food was indeed very tasty. "I have never eaten such good food," he said.

"You are welcome to share my food everyday, O king. But no one should ever know about our friendship. You must come alone."