The Lion Jupiter and the Elephant

"It is not fair!" said the lion. He came to Jupiter, the king of the gods, again and again, until Jupiter was tired of the sound of him. "I am huge and strong," he said. "I have sharp teeth and long claws, and I rule every beast in the forest. So why should I be scared of a rooster when he crows?"

"Why blame me?" said Jupiter. "I have given you all that I have myself. Your courage fails you only this one time."

The lion groaned. "What a coward I am," he moaned. "What use is a lion like me?" With his head hanging low, he wandered off through the trees, and there he met an elephant.

As they talked, the elephant kept shaking his ears. Flap, flap, flap. "What is the matter?" said the lion. "Why do your ears keep shaking?"

Just then a gnat landed on the elephant's head. "Do you see that little buzzing thing?" he said, in a small voice. "If it gets into my ear, I am finished."

The lion stared at the tiny gnat, and then at the huge beast trembling beneath it. "Well," he said, "if someone as big as you is afraid of a gnat, I will moan no more. Even as I am, I am better off than the elephant."