The Lion and the talking Den

Once upon a time, a clever Jackal made his home in a cave in the jungle.  Everyday he would leave the cave at sunrise in search of food and return at sunset.

In the same forest lived a lion.  He had grown very old and could no longer run fast to catch his prey.  He often went hungry because of this.  "I feel so weak and hungry.  I hope I can catch some prey today" thought the lion.

One day the lion tried to catch a lame deer.  But even the lame deer could run faster than him.  "I'm so old and weak that I cannot even catch that lame deer" told the lion to himself.

As the lion wandered in search of prey, he saw the Jackal's cave.  He was sure that some animal lived in the cave.  He had an idea.  The lion decided to hide inside the cave and pounce on the animal when it came in!

The lion waited in the cave for the whole day.  He was very hungry and this made him very restless and impatient.  "How long do I have to wait before some animal comes into this cave?" thought the lion.

At sunset, the jackal came back to find the whole forest quiet around the cave.  He was sure that some great danger lurked inside the cave.  He thought of a plan and called out to the cave....  "O cave, why are you silent today?  Will you not welcome me as you do everyday?"

Hearing the clever Jackal, the lion believed that the cave spoke to the Jackal and called out in a hollow voice asking the Jackal to come in.  Hearing the roar of the lion, the Jackal turned and ran for his life!

The lion waited for the Jackal to enter.  But soon he realized that he had been fooled.  He left the cave feeling very disappointed.  The Jackal watching him from a safe distance waited until the lion was out of sight and then returned to the cave for a good night's rest.

Moral:

• Haste is the root cause of mistakes.