The Ass the Cock and the Lion

The lion had not eaten for days. His ribs showed and his belly growled as he crept toward the farm, and there in the straw yard stood a donkey, fat and slow, with a rooster scratching beside him.

The lion crouched low. He was just about to spring when the rooster flapped up onto the fence and crowed. Now, people say there is one sound no lion can stand, and that is the crow of a rooster. His ears went flat, and he spun around and ran as fast as he could go.

The donkey stared after him. "Well!" he said. "If that great big lion is scared of a bird, he must be scared of everything. And here am I, twice as brave as he is!"

He kicked up his heels and galloped out of the yard, braying at the top of his voice. "Run, lion, run! Here I come!" Down the lane he went, with his ears flapping and his tail in the air.

He had not gone far when the lion stopped. The rooster was quiet now. The lion turned around.

One spring, and that was the end of the donkey.