Story Contest 2016 #1 - Outstanding Stories » The Lion Learns his Lesson

“The Lion Learns his Lesson” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2016 written by Siddhanth Shyam, India

The Lion Learns his Lesson

Once upon a time, there lived a fierce lion in a jungle. All the animals feared him as he was their King. One day, the lion made an announcement that he would kill the animals from his own jungle daily for his food, as there was a shortage of food outside the jungle, where he usually used to hunt. On hearing this, the animals got really scared and went into hiding.

The very next day, a herd of deer was drinking water from the pond when suddenly the lion attacked them. Luckily, they escaped and went into hiding. The lion got furious and roared angrily as he was very hungry.

The next day, he went after a herd of zebra. He got one zebra and ate it. But he was angry as he felt that he was not respected the way a King should be respected. So he went and injured the other zebras just to put some fear in them. This went on for some days as the lion enjoyed hurting other animals just for fun. He had become merciless.

On one such evening, the lion heard the bellowing of a buffalo calf. Though he was not hungry, he decided to hurt the calf just for fun. Now, a hunter had laid a trap to catch the lion and sell it to a circus and had used that calf as bait.

The lion entered the cage where the calf was tied and as he did the cage door fell from the top, trapping the lion. The lion was very scared and roared all night long.

When the sun rose, the animals of the jungle gathered near the cage to see why the lion was roaring so badly.

At first, they were happy to see him in the cage. But their hearts melted when the lion begged them to help him get out of that cage. The animals had a discussion on whether to help or not to help the lion. The wise owl came up with a suggestion. They all gathered near the lion and asked him to promise that he would never ever again hunt the animals of the forest unnecessarily and would be merciful throughout his life. The lion agreed and promised to do so.

Now, all the monkeys pulled the rope to which the door of the cage had been tied. They pulled and pulled till the door lifted a bit. Then, the elephants slipped their trunks under the door and pushed it upwards. Again, the buffaloes slid their horns beneath the cage and, hurray! the door rose to a level where the lion could come out easily. Hurray! The lion was free.

But would he keep his word now?

Yes, he did. He was grateful to the animals of the jungle forever. And never did he kill any animal of the jungle again. The jungle was a peaceful and happy place again.

Moral: Help your enemies when they ask for it. It might make you friends again.