go and take this wood yonder, and then I will
return and fight you. If you kill me, eat me, and if I conquer you I
will let you go, for we the sons of Adam do not eat the flesh of wild
beasts, nor do we kill them, but we let them go. The Lion was deceived
by those artful words, for he had seen the Camel and his companions
running away, and he thought within himself, now, if Ibn Adam did really
eat the flesh of beasts, he would not have let the Camel and the Horse,
the Buffalo and the Mule escape into the desert. So he said to the
Carpenter very well, I will wait for you to take the wood, and return
with your claws. Not so, said the Carpenter, I am afraid that you will
not wait for me. You are a stranger, and I do not trust your word. I
fear you will run away before I return. Said the Lion, it is impossible
that the Lion should run away from any one. Said the Carpenter, I cannot
admit what you say, unless you will grant me one thing. And what is
that, said the Lion. The Carpenter said, I have here a little rope. Come
let me tie you to this tree until I return, and then I shall know where
to find you. The Lion agreed to this plan, and the Carpenter bound him
with ropes to the tree until he and the tree were one compact bundle.
Then the Carpenter went away to his shop, and brought his glue pot, and
filling it with glue and pitch boiled it over the fire. Then he returned
and besmeared the Lion with the boiling mixture from his head to the end
of his tail, and applied a torch until he was all in a flame from head
to tail, and in this plight the Carpenter left him. Then the Lion roared
in agony until the whole forest echoed the savage roar, and all the
animals and wild beasts came running together to see what had happened.
And when they saw him in this sad plight, they rushed to him and loosed
his bonds, and he sprang to the river and extinguished the flames, but
came out singed and scarred, with neither hair nor mane. Now when all
the beasts saw this pitiable sight, they made a covenant together to
kill Ibn Adam. So they watched and waited day and night, until at length
they found him in the forest. As soon as he saw them, he ran to a lofty
tree, and climbed to its very top, taking only his adze with him, and
there awaited his fate. The whole company of beasts now gathered around
the foot of the tree, and tried in vain to climb it, and after they
walked around and around, at length they agreed that one should stand at
the foo