5
He moved on; and the orang-outang skipped along eagerly in front of him:
“This way, this way,” he said.
The lion stopped under the tree where Two-Legs had made his home. All the other animals of the forest had followed him and stood listening and staring.
“Two-Legs!” roared the lion, with his mighty voice.
It sounded like thunder and they all started with fear. The lion lashed his tail and looked up at the tree. Not a sound came from it. He called out again, but there was no answer.
“The impudent beggars!” said the orang-outang.
“Perhaps they are dead,” said the nightingale. “Perhaps they have overeaten themselves with the sheep.”
“You don’t die of eating too much, but of eating too little,” said the pig, who kept rooting in the ground with his snout, in search of something for himself to eat.
Then the lion roared for the third time; and the noise was so loud that a little siskin tumbled off her twig right into the jaws of the snake, who swallowed her before any one could utter a sound, so that nobody ever got wind of the story.
And now Two-Legs appeared at the top of the tree.
He had been fast asleep after the hearty meal which he had enjoyed; and he was furious at being roused. His hair hung about his face in disorder and his eyes were bloodshot and his mouth covered with foam:
“Who dares disturb my sleep?” he shouted.
“I do: the lion.”
“The lion, the king of beasts,” they all cried, respectfully, with one voice.
“I am king in my own house,” said Two-Legs. “Be off, I want to sleep.”
“He is defying the lion.... He is mad.... I won’t give a penny for his life!” cried the animals.
But Two-Legs took the thigh-bone of the sheep, aimed it and flung it with all his might at the lion. It hit the king of beasts in the middle of the forehead. He uttered a frightful roar. All the animals rushed terrified across the meadow. The lion ran in their midst, roaring constantly, till it echoed all over the forest.
But Two-Legs lay down quietly to sleep and slept until broad daylight.
When he awoke and had climbed down the tree, the dog lay gnawing the bone which Two-Legs had flung at the lion. He wagged his tail; Two-Legs patted him and gave him another bone:
“Will you be my servant and my friend?” asked Two-Legs.
“Gladly,” said the dog. “You have been kinder to me than the others and you are stronger and cleverer than they.”
“Very well,” said Two-Legs. “Then you shall keep watch over me and mine and help me when I go hunting and bear me company.”
