1
It was one night, some days after the animals had held their meeting in the meadow.
The lion lay in his , as was his custom, and stared with his yellow eyes. His was sleeping or pretending to sleep. At every moment she heaved a deep sigh. All was still in the forest.
The lion well knew what his consort’s sighing meant. He knew what the animals had talked of that day and all the other days in the forest. Not one of their complaints was to him; not one of the uttered against him had escaped his ears. Not for a moment had he doubted the feeling in the forest towards the king of beasts.
Nor had he forgotten which of the animals had spoken of him most slightingly. He had the names of more than one in his memory and he would know how to be even with them when the time came and order was restored in the forest. Every day he had to bear his consort’s , but he no longer them. She would have to beg his pardon and yield him her love and once again. His children would honour him as they had honoured him of old and even more. He would be remembered in the history of the forest as the in whose the kingdom had a great danger and misfortune, which he had finally overcome.
2
The lion rose and went slowly through the forest.
“The king of beasts is out hunting,” said the hedgehog, creeping under the bushes.
“See how thin he is,” said the bat. “His skin is hanging loose on his bones.”
“It is many nights since he went hunting,” said the . “His eyes are glaring with hunger.”
But the king of the forest was not thinking of hunting. He went, as though in a dream, in the direction of Two-Legs’ house. A deer across his path and he did not see her. Slowly he went until he came to the open space on the hill where Two-Legs’ house stood.
He went straight up to it, leapt nimbly over the hedge and in some bushes that grew at the door. He there lay . No one could see him, only his yellow eyes gleamed through the leaves. And one bound would bring him to the door.
3
Two-Legs slept restlessly that night.
He tossed about on his bed of skins and, when at last he fell asleep, Trust began to bark so loudly that Two-Legs had to get up and see what was happening. He had closed up the hole through which Trust used to get out, because the goose had lately escaped that way and fallen a to the fox.
“What is it, Trust?” he asked.
The dog kept on barking and leaping up against him. Two-Legs opened a little and looked out and listened. But there was nothing to see. Then he told the dog to lie down and went back to bed. But now he heard the horse kicking in the stable and the ox began to low and the to cackle. There was no hearing a word for the noise. He had to go out again and found all the animals shaking, as though greatly frightened. The horse stood in a violent sweat and the hens and the ducks and geese fluttered anxiously round and round their roost.
“What can it be?” he said.
He opened the door and stepped out into the night, unarmed and naked, as he had risen from his bed. At that moment, there was a in the bushes. The lion leapt forward, but Two-Legs just had time to spring back into the house and bolt the door behind him.
He stood for a moment in great alarm and did not know what to do.
Through a little hole in the door, he saw the lion lying outside in the bushes, with his eyes on the door, ready to leap again. The yellow eyes glittered with rage. Two-Legs understood that the fight was now to come that had been so long delayed.
He thought first of waking his sons, slipping out through the other door and attacking the lion in the rear. But they slept in different parts of the house; and the day was already breaking in the east; and, while he was gone to fetch them, one of the family might easily go out and fall a prey to the king of the forest.
While he stood and reflected, his fear left him.
He considered he was man enough to kill his unaided. He silently took the best two of his spears, carefully felt the edges, drew a deep breath and then opened the door.
The lion was not there.
Two-Legs looked from one side............