The Lion and the Rabbit Story teaches that wisdom is greater and much more powerful than physical strength.
Lion and the Rabbit Story
Let us now delve into the lion and the rabbit story that tells us how we can use our instinct in tough situations. The lion and the rabbit story is a nonstop read that will capture your interest from beginning to end. The lion and the rabbit story will keep you reading and wondering what is going to happen next.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful dense jungle where all the animals and birds lived in peace and friendship. However, along with them, there lived an evil, powerful, strong, arrogant, and ferocious male lion who was the King of the Jungle.
He was evil personified, as he would not only kill animals in the forest for food but also unnecessarily for sport and fun.
The animals were terrified of the lion as he hunted every day and killed them for pleasure. They were worried that none of them will be spared, and every one of them was sure to suffer a terrible death.
One day, the animals called for a meeting under the big tree as they feared for their lives and decided to find a way out of this difficult situation. Each one of the animals began to put forth proposals to tackle the problem. Finally, it was the turn of the wise elephant who said, “We would send one animal to his den every day, where he could kill and eat it for food. In return, he should stop hunting and not kill for food or fun.”
The animals decided to approach the lion with this strange proposal offering one animal of each species, in order of size, presenting itself to be eaten by the big cat every day.
The animals invited the lion to a meeting. The king of the beasts was surprised at the massive gathering of animals. The elephant said, “Your Majesty, we are happy to have you here. We want to put forward a plan for your consideration.” The king of the forest replied, “OK. Tell me what it is.”
The animals were scared as they did not know how the cruel big cat would react to their idea. However, gathering enough courage, the elephant said, “Lord, we know that it is natural for you to hunt and kill us for food. However, game hunting will deplete the population of this forest, and you will be left with no food.”
The lion was getting impatient with this speech. He asked the elephant, “What do you want?” The elephant replied, “Sir, please do not get angry. We have discussed among ourselves and have come up with a solution to this problem. We have decided to send one animal of each species to your den daily. You can kill and eat it. You can be relieved of the chore of hunting, and we too can survive.”
At first, the lion was amused and laughed at the proposal. However, being lazy, he agreed but placed a condition. He told the animals, “Fine, make sure that one of you comes to my den every day. But if you do not turn up, I will destroy all of you.” The animals agreed to this stipulation.
The rabbits were the first species chosen to become the king of the animals’ meal. The colony of rabbits chose an old rabbit among them. She became very sad and did not want to become the lion’s prey.
The next day, the rabbit who was supposed to go to the den and become the lion’s feast got up very late. She walked very slowly towards the den. On the way, she saw a very deep well. Looking at it, a clever thought struck her. She thought long and hard and hatched a plan to get rid of the king of the animals forever. Then, employing delaying tactics, she slept under a tree near the well reaching the lion’s den by sunset.
Meanwhile, the lion being hungry all day was becoming impatient and was livid with rage. When she saw the little rabbit coming towards him, he roared, “Why are you so late? I am dying of hunger here. You are too small a meal for me. I am going to kill everyone in the jungle” The rabbit was petrified, and with folded hands, humbly explained, “Oh, mighty one. Please listen to me. Four rabbits along with me were sent to make your meal. But, on the way, we saw another lion, which was bigger than you. He killed and devoured all of them, except me. I somehow escaped reaching here.”
The lion was taken back and exclaimed, “Another lion in my jungle. Impossible.” The rabbit continued, “Master, the other lion called you a fake and claimed himself to be the king of the forest. He wanted you to fight with him to prove his supremacy.”
The lion was overwhelmed with anger and asked the rabbit, “Take me to the place where you saw him. I will kill him and settle this matter once and for all.”
The wise rabbit asked the lion to follow her.
She took the lion towards the deep well filled with water. The rabbit said, “Chief, look down into the well. The other lion lives in this fortress. He might be hiding.”
The lion was furious and looked into the well. What he saw, stunned him. He saw another lion (mistook his reflection) and started growling. The image in the water also growled. The lion roared very loudly, and the sound of his roar echoed in the walls of the well and sounded even louder.
The lion said to the tiny rabbit, “You are absolutely correct. He is a strong fellow. But, I will kill this fake king of the jungle in a moment. I will never let anybody insult me again.”
The lion thundered, “I alone am the king of the animals.” The echo equally roared, “I alone am the king of the animals.”
Deeply enraged, the lion jumped into the well with a mighty splash to attack and kill his competitor. However, his head crashed against the rocks, and he drowned to death in the deep waters of the well. Thus, the lion died attacking his mirror image.
The clever rabbit succeeded in her plan and rushed back to tell the other animals how the lion was killed and how she saved her life as well as their lives.
When she narrated the entire event, the animals were overjoyed and thanked the rabbit for saving their lives and praised her for her wit. That was the end of the wicked lion, and the exuberant animals lived in the forest comfortably and happily thereafter.
Moral of the Lion and the Rabbit Story
The first moral of the lion and the rabbit story is that intelligence is always superior to brute physical strength, and wisdom is the quickness in seeing things as they are. The second moral of the lion and the rabbit story is that it does not matter whether you are weak or tiny; if you can use your intellect, you will overcome any obstacle and cross any hurdle and become a winner. The third moral of the lion and the rabbit story is that physical appearances do not matter, and only discretion and context awareness can guarantee success in life.
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