Tuesday, April 5, 2022

The Hare and the Lions

 There was an ancient castle, at the edge of the forest. The castle had been abandoned a long time back. Now, the castle was more or less broken down, ruined and dilapidated. All that remained was a well in the front and certain standing walls. One of the walls had a small hole as a window, but the wall was still pretty strong.



Now the forest had more or less grown over the castle and in that forest lived a Lion and Lioness. The animals were fierce and ferocious. The Lion and the lioness attacked any animal which they saw and soon, the two animals were feared all over the forest. The other animals trembled merely on hearing the roars of the lions.



Once during the hunt, the Lion came across a hare which was sleeping beside a tree, near the broken down castle.

Uncle Lion!” The Hare told the Lion, swallowing its fear. “I did not expect you here. Considering this place is so close to … another lion.”

Angrily the Lion roared loudly. “What other lion?”

The Hare pointed a trembling paw at the well. “Inside that, my Lord.”

The foolish lion angrily went to the well and seeing its own reflection, it thought that it was another lion and roared loudly at it. As its roar reflected back, the Lion in a fit of rage and frenzy jumped inside the well. When the Lion tried to come up, the Hare threw stones at the Lion, making sure that the Lion could not come up. Finally, the Lion drowned and died in the well.

After that, the Hare went to the Lioness.

She was impatiently pacing her den, wondering why the Lion was not yet back.

The Hare saw her in the cave and bravely walked up to her. “Aunt Lioness, why are you worried?”

The Lioness did not reply to the Hare, but she snarled angrily.

Are you worried about the Lion?”

The Lioness stiffened as the Hare continued. “I had an argument with the Lion yesterday and I hurt him very badly during our fight…”

The Lioness roared and pounced on the Hare.

The Hare was swift and ran, dodging the angry Lioness.

Soon, the Hare led the Lioness to the damaged wall of the castle with the single hole in the middle. The Hare was smaller and jumped right into the hole.

The Lioness was angry through and through and did not think as she also tried to jump inside the hole. However, as the Lioness was bigger, she got stuck in the hole. She could not move from there. She roared loudly, but none of the other animals came any closer to help the Lioness.

The Hare also left the Lioness there, where the animal subsequently died as she could not come out of the hole.



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