an old Goat said: "We must put a stop to this. I have a plan by which he may be
sent away from this part of the country."
"Pray act up to it at once," said the other animals.
The old Goat laid himself down in a cave on the roadside, with his flowing beard
and long curved horns. The Lion on his way to the village saw him, and stopped
at the mouth of the cave.
"So you have come, after all," said the Goat.
"What do you mean?" asked the Lion.
"Why, I have long been lying in this cave. I have eaten up one hundred
elephants, a hundred tigers, a thousand wolves, and ninety-nine lions. One more
lion has been wanting. I have waited long and patiently. Heaven has, after all,
been kind to me," said the Goat, and shook his horns and his beard, and made a
start as if he were about to spring upon the Lion.
The latter said to himself: "This animal looks like a Goat, but it does not talk like
one, so it is very likely some wicked spirit in this shape. Prudence often serves
us better than valour, so for the present I shall return to the wood," and he turned
back.
The Goat rose up and, advancing to the mouth of the cave, said, "Will you come
back to-morrow?"
"Never again," said the Lion.
"Do you think I shall be able to see you, at least, in the wood to-morrow?"
"Neither in the wood, nor in this neighbourhood any more," said the
Lion, and running to the forest, soon left it with his kindred.
The animals in the country, not hearing him roar any more, gathered around the
Goat, and said: "The wisdom of one doth save a host."
The Man and His Piece of Cloth