The Lioness and the Ostrich

It is said that a lioness once roared, and an ostrich roared as well. The lioness went over to where the ostrich was, and the two met. “Go on, roar,” said the lioness. The ostrich roared. Then the lioness roared. Their voices were just as loud as each other. “You are my match,” the lioness told him.

“Let us hunt together,” she said next. They spotted some eland and went after them. The lioness caught only one. The ostrich brought down a great many, kicking them with the claw on his leg. When the hunt was over and they came back together to the kill, the lioness saw how much the ostrich had taken.

The lioness had young cubs with her. The hunters went into the shade to rest. “Get up and cut the meat open,” the lioness said to the ostrich, “so that we can eat.”

“You cut it open,” said the ostrich. “I will drink the blood.” So the lioness got up, opened the carcasses, and ate with her cubs. When she had finished, the ostrich rose and drank the blood. Then they lay down to sleep.

The cubs went on playing, and as they played they wandered over to the ostrich. He was asleep with his beak wide open, as he always slept. The cubs saw that he had no teeth. They ran to their mother. “This fellow who says he is your equal has no teeth,” they told her. “He is making fun of you.”

So the lioness went and woke the ostrich. “Get up,” she said. “Let us fight.” They fought. “You go to that side of the ant-hill,” said the ostrich, “and I will take this side.” He struck the ant-hill and knocked it flying toward the lioness. The second time he struck, he hit the lioness herself in a weak place near the liver, and he killed her.

Where this story comes from

“The Lioness and the Ostrich” is in James A. Honey’s South-African Folk-Tales (1910). It is very short and simple, told almost entirely in plain actions and spoken lines, and it turns on one small observation: the cubs notice what the grown-ups missed.

The ostrich’s weapon in the story is the claw on his leg, which he uses both in the hunt and in the final fight. He offers to “eat the blood” because, as the cubs discover, he has no teeth.

Read the original: Honey, South-African Folk-Tales (1910), Gutenberg ebook

Best for ages 6–8 — a short animal tale; the lioness dies at the end, told in one plain sentence.

A true observation can lead to a wrong conclusion

The cubs correctly notice that Ostrich has no teeth. They wrongly treat that as proof he cannot match their mother, even though he has already caught more game using his legs. The lioness abandons stronger evidence of his ability for a familiar image of strength. Her decision to fight turns a successful hunting partnership into a fatal rivalry.

Weigh the evidence

List what the lioness has seen during the hunt and what the cubs report afterward. Which observations actually tell her how dangerous Ostrich can be?

Talk about it

• Why did the lioness decide the ostrich was her equal?
• What did the cubs notice that their mother had not?
• Do you think the lioness was right to pick a fight? Why?

More stories like this

• Lion’s Share — Lion and Jackal share out a hunt
• Elephant and Tortoise — a small creature defeats a bigger one
• King Chameleon And The Animals — a contest among the animals