Once upon a time, there was a mighty lion who ruled over the jungle. The lion was very cruel and killed all the other animals whenever it pleased him. Eventually, the other animals had had enough, and they decided to go to the lion’s den.
“Oh, mighty lord, you kill many of us every single day for no reason,” the animals complained.
“One animal a day should be enough to satisfy your hunger. Can’t we make a deal? If we promise to sacrifice one animal to you each day, then you won’t have to hunt, and not so many of us will go to waste.”
The lion thought about the proposal for a brief moment. “Okay, it’s a deal. But if I don’t get one animal a day, I’ll kill all of you!”
Now that the deal was in place, all the animals could live in peace – except, of course, for the one animal that had to be sacrificed to the lion each day.
One day, a hare was chosen. It didn’t want to end its days as lion food, so it came up with a clever plan.
“I’ve been waiting for my meal all day!” roared the hungry lion when the hare finally arrived at the den. “Now I’ll eat you and kill all the other animals!”
“Oh, mighty lord, please don’t,” begged the hare. “I can explain. On my way here, I met another lion who claimed to be the king of the jungle and said we should only sacrifice ourselves to him. He said you are the impostor.”
The lion became furious. “Take me to this fraud immediately! I’ll show him who the real king of the jungle is!”
The hare led the lion to a well.
“My lord, the lion lives in a cave down there,” said the hare.
The lion looked down into the well and, seeing its own reflection, thought it was the other lion. With a mighty roar, it jumped into the well – and that was the end of the tyrant!
The hare was celebrated as a hero for its cleverness. And from that day on, the animals of the jungle lived happily ever after.
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