In a forest, there once lived a lion in a cave. A jackal also lived with him in his cave. He helped the lion in hunting. In return, the lion shared a portion of his meal with him.

Once, the lion fell ill. He didn’t have the strength to go out for hunting. He lay inside his cave all day without eating anything. “If the lion doesn’t hunt, I too have to starve with him,” the jackal thought. So, he decided to bring someone to the cave, so that the lion could kill him.

After lurking everywhere for some time, he saw a donkey grazing around. He went to him and said, “The king of the forest wants to meet you.”

Surprised by the jackal’s words, the donkey said, “But, I am afraid of the wild animals!”
“Why? The king himself has sent me to you. He wants to make you his minister,” the cunning jackal said.

This made the donkey delighted. He accompanied the jackal to the lion’s cave. As the donkey came closer, the lion pounced on him and killed him.

The lion was thirsty. He went to the river. But, the jackal could not wait for him to return. He ate the donkey’s brain. When the lion came back from the river, he wondered where the brain was. He asked the jackal, who said in reply, “If the donkey had a brain, would he have come here?”

Moral: Deception with sweet words succeeds beyond limit.