Monday, August 21, 2023

The Four Friends and the Lion

Once there were four friends in a village. Three of the friends were very learned. The fourth one was not as learned as the others but he had plenty of common sense. 

Three of the friends were going to travel to another city for some work. They did not want to take the fourth friend with him because he was not as learned as them. 

But they felt that it would be rude to ask him not to come along and they decided to take him with him, so the three friends invited their fourth friend to come with them.

All four people came towards the jungle and they found the bones of a dead lion. 

One of the men decided that this dead lion was the best way to test the knowledge that they had learnt. He and his two friends decided to bring the dead lion back to life. 

The fourth friend asked them not to do so. 

But the other three did not listen to him. 

The fourth friend tried again. “Please test your knowledge with some other animal, but not the lion.” 

The three just made fun of the fourth friend and continued with their work. 



The first friend collected all the bones and made a skeleton of the lion. 

The second friend using his knowledge was able to give flesh and skin to the lion. 

When the third friend was about to give life to the lion, the fourth friend stopped him. The other three did not listen to him when the fourth friend realized that the situation was hopeless. “Please wait until I climb this tree. You can continue this after that.” 

So the fourth man climbed a tree and waited there. 

The third friend brought the lion back to life. 

As soon as the lion came back alive it killed the three men before it because it was very hungry.

The fourth front came down the tree and realized that he could not have avoided the fate of the three friends because they had been foolish. 

Sadly he went back to his home.

Adapted from the Panchatantra


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