Growing up, my dad would share short stories to teach us life lessons… and to make us giggle. One of my favourites is this story of the Lion and the Bull. I have no idea where the story originated, but it’s stuck with me over the years…

In a forest deep in the jungle there lived a mighty and fearless lion that all the animals of the jungle feared. They hid in fear of being eaten by him. This lion was so ferociously terrifying that even other lions couldn’t stand up to him and eventually they abandoned the jungle to leave him to rule it alone. Leaving him free to roam the land and eat to his heart’s content. He prowled, hunted and devoured every animal in sight. He never went hungry.

Years passed, the lion grew older and he began to struggle to hunt his prey. The other animals didn’t fear him as much since they could now out run him and saw he wasn’t the speedy ferocious lion he once was. This angered the lion, he didn’t want to be seen as weak, he wanted to reclaim his position in the kingdom, so he devised a plan to show them all just how powerful he still was.

The lion was patient, and he waited for the perfect day to execute his plan. The day surely came. He spotted a bull, chirpily walking around and grazing, this bull hadn’t been warned of the lion that hunted the jungle so he naively bounced along enjoying his adventure.

The bull soon comes across a group of hunters, rearing guns and looking for their next target. The bull quickly ran away… but little did he know, there was another danger to his life, quietly watching and following him. As the bull found safety, the lion watched, salivating with delight at this fat bull. He swayed, shifted and prowled silently drawing nearer and nearer to the bull.

And before the bull could have even felt the breath of the lion on his neck, the lion attacked! The bull didn’t have a chance, just like that, the lion devoured him. The lion was impressed with himself – he had never eaten a bull so large and tasty before and he was reminded him of his younger years when he felt powerful and watched how all the other animals scattered at the thought of seeing him. He felt amazing.

With this success, he happily climbed to the peak of the jungle, where all the other animals could see him and hear him roar a mighty roar of success. “roooo-hhaaaa-haaaa-haa” (this particular sound is a key part of the story! lol) and again “roooooo-haaa-haa-haaaaaaa” the lion had his power and respect back; or so he thought. Unbeknownst to him, the group of hunter’s that the bull had spotted earlier (the same ones that the lion failed to see since he had all of his attention focused on hunting the bull) heard the lions mighty roar and as the lion kept roaring, they soon followed the sound and found the lion.

Now, he didn’t have a chance, he was totally consumed with his “roooo-hhhaaa’s” that he failed to notice the hunter’s as they took position, raised their guns and shot the lion dead! {BANG-POW}

The moral of the story :

“When you’re full of bull, you keep your mouth shut!“

– Dad