By Hammad Khan
Once upon a time there was a lion that grew so old that he was unable to catch any prey. So, he said to himself, “I must do something to fill my stomach or else I will die of starvation.”
The lion kept thinking and thinking. At last an idea struck him. He decided to lie down in his cave pretending to be ill. And then, he thought, he would pounce on whoever would come to inquire about his health and make it his prey.
The old lion put his wicked plan into action. It started working. Many of his well-wishers who came to see him and find out about him got killed and eaten up.
But evil is short-lived. One day, a fox came to visit the ailing lion. As foxes are clever by nature, the fox stood at the mouth of the cave and looked about. His sixth sense told him that something was amiss. He called out to the lion from outside and said, “How are you, sir?”
The lion replied, “I am not feeling well at all. Why don’t you come inside?”
The lion thought that if the fox came inside he would pounce upon him and have him for dinner.
The clever fox replied, “I would love to come in, sir! But on seeing so many foot prints going into your cave and none coming out, I would be foolish enough to come in. I know what must have happened to all the many animals who accepted your invitation to enter your cave!”
Saying so, the fox went around to alert the other animals about what the wicked lion had been up to.
(Hammad Khan lives in Bhopal and is a student of class 7)
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