The Lion And The Goat

: FABLES FROM INDIA
: Boys And Girls Bookshelf

A Lion was eating up one after another the animals of a certain country.

One day an old Goat said, "We must put a stop to this. I have a plan by

which he may be sent away from this part of the country."



"Pray act up to it at once," said the other animals.



The old Goat laid himself down in a cave on the roadside, with his

flowing beard and long curved horns. The Lion on his way to the village

saw him, and stopped at the mouth of the cave.



"So you have come, after all," said the Goat.



"What do you mean?" said the Lion.



"Why, I have long been lying in this cave. I have eaten up one hundred

Elephants, a hundred Tigers, a thousand Wolves, and ninety-nine Lions.

One more Lion has been wanting. I have waited long and patiently. Heaven

has, after all, been kind to me," said the Goat, and shook his horns and

his beard, and made a start as if he were about to spring upon the Lion.



The latter said to himself, "This animal looks like a Goat, but it does

not talk like one. So it is very likely some wicked spirit in this

shape. Prudence often serves us better than valor, so for the present I

shall return to the wood," and he turned back.



The Goat rose up, and, advancing to the mouth of the cave, said, "Will

you come back to-morrow?"



"Never again," said the Lion.



"Do you think I shall be able to see you, at least, in the wood

to-morrow?"



"Neither in the wood, nor in this neighborhood any more," said the Lion,

and running to the forest, soon left it with his kindred.



The animals in the country, not hearing him roar any more, gathered

round the Goat, and said, "The wisdom of one doth save a host."