The Lion and the Foolish Donkey

In a certain forest there lived a lion, and he kept a jackal as his minister. The jackal’s job was simple: he lived on whatever the lion left over.

One day a king came into the forest to hunt. He found the lion and wounded him so badly that the lion barely managed to crawl back to his den alive. Even after the king had gone, the lion stayed in his den and did not come out. Soon the jackal was faint with hunger.

“My lord,” said the jackal, “why don’t you go out and hunt, as well as you can? You are starving, and so are we who serve you.”

“My friend,” the lion replied, “my wounds have worn me out. I can’t go wandering about outside. But if I could eat the heart and ears of a donkey, my wounds would heal and I would be strong as ever. Go and find me a donkey, quickly, wherever you can.”

The jackal agreed and set off. After a while he came upon a donkey standing alone in a lonely place. The donkey belonged to a washerman, and he looked worn out.

“Why are you so tired?” asked the jackal in his friendliest voice.

“I am worn thin from carrying the washerman’s loads day after day,” said the donkey.

“Then why put up with it?” said the jackal. “Come with me. I know a forest as lovely as heaven. You can eat all day and grow fat, and you will have plenty of other donkeys for company.”

The donkey longed for an easy life, so he followed the jackal into the forest where the lion lived. But when the lion saw the donkey, he was still so weak that all he could manage was one swipe of his paw at the donkey’s back. The donkey, stung by the blow, took fright and galloped off, and he did not come near the lion after that. The lion tumbled over in a dazed heap and then crept back to his den with nothing.

“My lord,” said the jackal crossly, “if you can’t kill one miserable donkey, how will you ever catch a deer?”

“If you know how to do it,” said the lion, “bring that donkey to me one more time. This time I’ll be ready for him.”

So the jackal trotted off and found the donkey. “Why did you run away, sir?” he asked.

“Something hit me,” said the donkey.

The jackal laughed. “You must have imagined it! There is no such creature in that forest. Look at me. I am small and weak, and I live there quite safely. Come back with me to that happy place, where you can enjoy yourself as much as you like.”

The silly donkey believed him and went back into the forest. This time the lion was waiting. The moment he saw the donkey, he leapt out of his den, sprang on him from behind, and killed him.

Then the lion divided up the meat. He was tired, so he told the jackal to guard it while he went to bathe. But while the lion was away, the sly jackal gobbled up the donkey’s heart and ears for himself.

When the lion came back, he looked at the donkey and frowned. “Where are its heart and ears?” he asked.

“This creature never had any ears or any heart,” said the jackal. “If he had, how could he come back to the very spot he had escaped from?”

The lion believed him and ate his share, and the jackal finished up whatever was left.

Where this story comes from

This fable comes from the Kathá Sarit Ságara (“Ocean of the Streams of Story”), a huge eleventh-century Sanskrit collection by the poet Somadeva, in the English translation by C. H. Tawney (Project Gutenberg #40588). In Somadeva’s book a clever monkey tells it to a porpoise who has just tried to trick him. The monkey’s point is that he will not be fooled twice, like the donkey.

In a footnote Tawney says the scholar Theodor Benfey did not seem to know that Somadeva had this story. He adds that it is found in the Sanskrit texts of the Panchatantra, where Benfey counted it as the second tale of the fourth book.

Read the original: Somadeva, The Kathá Sarit Ságara, tr. C. H. Tawney (Project Gutenberg #40588)

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12; includes an animal killed and its organs eaten. The lion’s proposed cure is part of the fable, not medical or veterinary advice.

A closer reading

The jackal uses the donkey’s real exhaustion to make his invitation appealing. After the attack, he does something more specific than flattering: he denies the donkey’s own experience and offers his personal safety as false proof that no danger exists. The donkey’s need for relief makes that reassurance attractive.

The last lie targets the lion instead. ‘No heart or ears’ turns a metaphor about judgment into an excuse for missing body parts. The lion accepts the joke because it flatters his sense of superiority, showing that the supposedly stronger partner can also be manipulated.

Try this with the story

Compare the jackal’s two audiences. Write what the donkey wants to believe and what the lion wants to believe, then show how each lie serves that desire. Suggest a safe way the donkey could check a promise of better conditions.

Think about it

• What makes the first invitation tempting to an overworked donkey?
• How does the jackal deny evidence the donkey has experienced?
• Why does the lion accept the impossible claim about missing organs?

Related stories

• The Monkey and the Crocodile — the tale of a monkey whose heart is wanted for a cure
• The Story of the Blue Jackal — another Indian fable about a crafty jackal
• The Wise Jackal — another clever jackal story