The Child's Story: The Lion and the Carpenter

The little striped lion cub — "the son of the king of beasts himself" — was strolling one fine morning along a lonely path near the forest. The sun was shining and the air was warm. A gentle breeze blew, and the leaves of the trees whispered to it; the cub lifted his head and breathed in the morning breeze with delight and contentment. Then suddenly he stopped still, for he had heard from afar the fall of hooves pounding the earth. He did not wait long before he saw a donkey running at full speed, turning in his direction at the fork of the path.

The lion looked at the donkey with a look of pride and said to him politely, "Good morning, stranger. Why all this haste?" The donkey sighed sorrowfully and said, "Why the haste! I am flying — flying for my freedom, if not for my very life." The lion asked him, "Whom do you fear?" The donkey said, "The son of Adam, who bridles me with a piece of iron, binds the saddle upon my back and the rope around my belly, and burdens me with himself and his loads. Farewell — let me flee." And the donkey ran on at speed; and hardly had the fall of his hooves faded away on the horizon when the lion heard a neighing, and the fall of other hooves, harder and stronger than the donkey's. A moment later a cloud of dust rose and parted to reveal a black horse with a white blaze, devouring the ground as he ran and blowing the air from his nostrils from sheer exhaustion. The lion stopped him and said in greeting, "O gentlest of beasts, what is all this speed for?" The horse said to him, "You ask me what this speed is for! I am on my way to the green pastures, fleeing from the son of Adam, my captor and my tormentor."

The lion said to him, "Do you flee from him too? You are a splendid animal, strong of muscle; God has placed might in your feet. Go at the son of Adam and give him one mighty kick with your hoof that will finish him and send him to join his forefathers."

The horse said, "Have you never once seen a son of Adam?... No?.. So I thought. Listen to me: he has a mind whose skill and cunning surpass your strength and mine together. I have freed myself from the yoke and fled. I shall go to the green pastures and live there until my appointed hour comes, and I will not submit myself to captivity and torment. Farewell, lion." And the horse set off, folding up the ground beneath him, following the donkey's trail. A moment later there came a camel of enormous bulk, seized with terror, running fast along the path.

The lion said to himself: perhaps this huge-bodied creature is the son of Adam; I shall bar his way. Then he made ready to pounce upon him, and prepared his teeth to devour him. And the lion said, "Halt! Who are you?"

The camel answered, "I am the camel. I beg you, let me pass, for I am fleeing from the son of Adam, and I fear he may overtake me and seize me. For if he did, he would pierce my nose and set in it a ring of iron tied to a rope, then hand my halter to a small child who would drive me and move me about however he pleased. Oh no — I want none of that. Let me pass. Farewell."

The lion shook his head and said, "Just let this son of Adam dare to come here!" And hardly had he finished his words when a dust cloud appeared on the horizon and parted, and there appeared a puny man — a puny, thin, bald-headed man, carrying on his shoulder a basket in which he had put some carpenter's tools, and bearing on his head six boards of wood and a pouch full of nails. When the man saw the lion, he threw down his load and began wiping the sweat from his brow. Then he looked at the lion and said, a droll smile upon his lips, "Hello there... how are you?"

The lion said, "I am in the best of health. Who are you?"

The man answered, "I am the carpenter."

The lion asked him, "What are you doing here? Are you too fleeing from that one they call the son of Adam, of whom and of whose tyranny everyone speaks?"

The man nodded his head in assent and said, "Yes, indeed I am. I have taken refuge in this forest to be safe from this son of Adam, far from him and his mischief; and I shall build myself, out of these wooden boards, a house to protect me from him and from his aggression."

The lion said, "I swear by my life that this shall never happen. I am the son of the king of the beasts of forest and plain, and I permit no one to build himself a house in this forest before I do."

The carpenter said, "As you command, O son of the king of the forest. Take me to the spot where you wish me to build a house for you."

The carpenter took five of the wooden boards and made from them a box, fastening it with nails until it was strong and solid. The sixth board he made into a lid for this box, and set the nails ready in it so as to shut it whenever he wished — while the lion watched him with keen interest as he went about his work. Then the man said, "And now, Your Highness, will you be so kind as to step into your house, so that I may see whether it suits you or not?"

The foolish lion went into the carpenter's box, and the man made haste to set the lid upon the box, drove in the nails, and fixed the lid fast.

The lion roared and raged and cursed the carpenter for his cunning and his deceit, and cursed himself for his simplicity and his stupidity. And the carpenter, laughing, said to him:

"Fate has dropped you into my hands. Beware of trusting one whose name you do not know, whose face you have not seen, and whose voice you have not heard."