In the heart of a dense forest lived a lion. He was a happy lion and spent his time hunting or sleeping. But there were a few days when he did not find any prey for a long time and he was very hungry.
He kept wandering through the forest and could not find even one small animal to eat! At night, he found himself outside the mouth of a cave. “This cave must belong to some animal; I’m sure. He will be coming back at night. I’ll hide inside it and lie in wait for the animal and catch it,” he thought.
So he went into the empty cave and waited inside, sitting very quietly so as not to frighten off the animal. Soon he heard sounds from outside and held his breath. Some animal had come!
The cave belonged to a jackal who was very clever. As he came near the cave, he saw footprints and became alert. He looked carefully and saw that the footprints were going into the cave, but there was no sign of any footprints coming out of the cave. That meant that whoever had gone in had not yet come out.
He wondered what to do and then he thought of an idea. He stood at the mouth of the cave and shouted, “Cave? Hello Cave?” There was no reply, so he tried again. “Cave, have you forgotten our agreement? When I came here, we had decided that whenever I returned, I would call out to you and you would reply to confirm that all was clear. Only then I would enter. So, why are you silent?”
Once again, there was no reply. So, the jackal said, “Fine. I think I should look for another cave, since you won’t reply.”
Now the lion had been listening to the jackal’s words carefully. And he was keeping very quiet. But when he heard the jackal say he was going away, he decided to speak. The cave and the jackal seemed to have an agreement and according to that the Cave should reply. “The Cave must be frightened of me,” thought the lion, “I had better reply in its place, or the jackal will go away.”
“All is clear, my friend,” he called out, “You can safely come in.” But the cave echoed with his loud roar. It told the jackal all he wanted to know! There was a lion in his cave! “What a narrow escape! It’s a good thing; I saw those footprints! And I had better not stand around till he comes out or I’ll be dead.” Taking to his heels he ran into the forest to find a different home.
