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 content-ment. 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