"Why, I have long been lying in this cave. I have eaten up one hundred elephants, a hundred tigers, a thousand wolves, and ninety-nine lions. One more lion has been wanting. I have waited long and patiently. Heaven has, after all, been kind to me," said the Goat, and shook his horns and his beard, and made a start as if he were about to spring upon the Lion.
The latter said to himself: "This animal looks like a Goat, but it does not talk like one, so it is very likely some wicked spirit in this shape. Prudence often serves us better than valour, so for the present I shall return to the wood," and he turned back.
The Goat rose up and, advancing to the mouth of the cave, said, "Will you come back to-morrow?"
"Never again," said the Lion.
"Do you think I shall be able to see you, at least, in the wood to-morrow?"
"Neither in the wood, nor in this neighbourhood any more," said the
Lion, and running to the forest, soon left it with his kindred.
The animals in the country, not hearing him roar any more, gathered around the Goat, and said: "The wisdom of one doth save a host."
The Man and His Piece of Cloth
A Man in the East, where they do not require as much clothing as in colder climates, gave up all worldly concerns and retired to a wood, where he built a hut and lived in it.
His only clothing was a Piece of Cloth which he wore round his waist. But, as ill-luck would have it, rats were plentiful in the wood, so he had to keep a cat. The cat required milk to feed it, so a cow had to be kept. The cow required tending, so a cowboy was employed. The boy required a house to live in, so a house was built for him. To look after the house, a maid had to be engaged. To provide company for the maid, a few more houses had to be built, and people invited to live in them. In this manner a little township sprang up.