The Lion and the Talking Cave

The sun was setting, casting long orange shadows across the jungle. A ferocious Lion, the kind of the forest, was prowling through the bushes. He was old, but he was still strong. However, today had been a bad day. He had hunted since morning but had caught nothing. His stomach rumbled loudly. Grrrble…

“I am starving,” the Lion muttered to himself. “If I don’t eat soon, I will faint.”

Just as he was about to give up, he spotted a small, dark opening at the base of a cliff. It was a cave. He sniffed the air. Yes! It smelled of a wild animal—a Jackal, to be precise.

“Aha!” thought the Lion. “This is a Jackal’s home. He isn’t here now, but he will surely come back to sleep at night. I will hide inside the dark cave. As soon as he enters, SNAP! I will have a delicious dinner.”

The Lion squeezed his large body into the narrow cave and waited silently in the darkness.

An hour later, the Jackal returned. He was a clever fellow, always alert for danger. As he walked towards his home, he stopped. He looked at the sandy path leading to the cave mouth.

“Wait a minute,” thought the smart Jackal. His ears swiveled. He looked closely at the ground.

He saw large, round pugmarks—Lion footprints!—going into the cave. But when he looked for footprints coming out, there were none.

“Oh no!” gasped the Jackal. “A Lion has gone into my house, and he hasn’t come out! He must be hiding inside, waiting for me!”

The Jackal was terrified, but he didn’t run away blindly. “I must be sure,” he told himself. “If I run and it’s just a shadow, I will lose my home. I need to check if the beast is really there.”

He thought for a moment and came up with a brilliant plan. He stood a little distance away from the entrance and shouted loudly.

“Hello, Cave! Oh, my dear Cave!”

He waited. There was only silence from the dark hole.

“Hello, Cave!” he shouted again. “What is the matter with you today? Why are you so quiet?”

The Lion, hiding inside, heard this and was confused. “Does this cave usually talk?” he wondered.

The Jackal continued, “You know our agreement, Cave! You promised that every evening when I come home, you would say, ‘Welcome back, my dear friend!’ If you don’t welcome me, I will not come in. I will go and sleep in another cave!”

The Lion panicked. “Oh dear! This must be a magic talking cave,” he thought. “But today it is silent because it is afraid of me. If the cave doesn’t speak, the Jackal will leave, and I will lose my meal. I must pretend to be the cave!”

So, the foolish Lion cleared his throat and roared in his deepest, most welcoming voice (which was still very scary).

“Hello, my dear Jackal! Welcome home! Please come in!”

The roar echoed inside the small cave like thunder. GROAAAAR! The ground shook.

The Jackal burst out laughing. “You foolish Lion!” he shouted back. “Everyone knows that caves don’t talk! Thank you for telling me you are there. I am running away now!”

And the clever Jackal turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, far away from the dangerous cave.

The Lion rushed out, but it was too late. He saw only the dust left by the sprinting Jackal. He realized sadly that strength is useless without brains, and that he would have to go to bed hungry that night.

Moral of the Story: Presence of mind is your best tool against danger. Even the strong can be outwitted by the smart.