The Lioness and the She-Bear

A she-bear saw a lioness weeping bitterly and asked her, "Why are you sad?"
"A hunter killed my two cubs," the lioness replied.
"Don't weep!" said the bear. "Think about it: who gives you the meat that you eat?"
"I catch my food."
"And the animals that you catch, do they have parents?"
"I suppose they do."
"They grieved for their children as you do now," concluded the bear, "and you yourself are now suffering as they did."
Thinking about what the bear said to her, the lioness resolved to eat no more meat and to live on fruits instead.



Inspired byMille Fabulae et Una, a collection of Latin fables that I've edited, free to read online. I am not translating the Latin here; instead, I am just telling a 100-word version of the fable.
Notes: This is fable 8 in the book, which is Perry 414. The version here comes from the Latin Liber Kalilae et Dimnae, and from that tradition it appears in La Fontaine. In the ancient Greek version, the story is about a wild boar and a lioness.



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