The Baboon and the Lion (2)

Baboon made the skins into shoes and gave them to Lion.
"Ugh!" shouted Lion. "They're covered with blood!"
"They need to be soft at first to fit your feet," Baboon replied. "Walk down to the river wearing them, and we'll wash the blood off there."
"Alright," Lion agreed. "Then we'll come back and I'll execute you. You're still under a sentence of death after all."
Baboon just smiled.
They walked to the river, and when Lion stepped into the water at the river's edge, Baboon pushed him into the river's rapids, and Lion drowned.
So Baboon escaped his death sentence.



Inspired by: "The Baboon, the Hyena and the Jackal"  in Ethiopian Folktales collected by Elizabeth Laird (website).
Notes: You can read the original story online. The original version was a bit confusing since it did not explain just why the Jackal and Hyena proposed that Baboon should make shoes for Lion, since they wanted to kill him, so I shifted it around to make Baboon be the one who proposes shoes. Here is how the story begins: The Baboon, the Hyena, and the Jackal.

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