The Gullible Sheep and the Cunning Lion

By Oskar Freysinger
member of the Swiss parliament 

On a green pasture lived a flock of sheep. One day a lion appeared and asked to join them in eating some of the abundant grass. The sheep, having never seen a lion before, bleated a welcome to him and led him the best pasture. 

The lion thanked them most graciously and began to pretend to eat and smack his lips. When nightfall came and the herd was asleep, he killed a sheep that had strayed from the rest and devoured it.
The next day he again mingled with the grass eaters and behaved as he had done the day before, only to once again eat fresh meat that night. 

So it followed that every night another sheep disappeared, leaving nothing but traces of blood on the grass. The flock, bewildered by these mysterious nocturnal murders, began to be afraid. 

Then the lion turned to his sheep companions and disclosed to them that at night he had seen a wolf prowling around the pasture. He told them that the wolf belonged to a degenerate and especially violent group of predatory animals and was probably responsible for the sad disappearance of their fellows. 

If they would trust him, he would soon put an end to these sinister doings, since while himself belonging to the carnivorous species, he was, as they would surely know, from the pleasant, civilised and vegetarian-oriented kind. 

There was no greater concern for him than to put an end to this wolf terrorism, since it also caused great damage to his own reputation.  The flock bleated their agreement and gratitude at this great self-sacrifice for the general good. 

The next day a lioness appeared with her cubs. The lion introduced them as his collaborators. The sheep were very thankful for this reinforcement and gave the new members of their flock an enthusiastic reception. 

However, from this day onward more sheep disappeared in spite of the untiring efforts of the big cats. The lion explained that now, after sundown, whole packs of wolves were lurking around the pasture, so that while he could indeed ward off the worst, he could not prevent heavy losses. 

But he would continue fighting to assure the survival of the grass eaters, whose view of life and whose eating habits had become his own as well as those of his relatives. In saying this, he showed such righteous anger for the perfidious behaviour of the wolves that the sheep were moved by such dedication. They awarded him the Order of the Golden Fleece and dubbed him the Knight of the Dandelion. 

Some sceptics disturbed the investiture, because they harboured distrust in their hearts and dared to claim that the lions preached grass at day and fed on meat at night. They were, of course, bleated down and muzzled. 

It was regarded as a just punishment for their ungracious and disrespectful behaviour that the following night they out of all the others became victims of the wolves.

Then an old ram reminded his fellow species to remember the long forgotten ritual of the sacrifice of meat as remission for their lifelong grazing and to prepare their souls for the eternal pastures of the prairie. 

From now on the relatives of the lion, who day by day became more numerous and integrated themselves with greater ease into the world of the sheep, gave wise instructions to be strictly followed so as to assure the survival of the flock. 

It followed that the sheep, the number of which continued to decrease constantly, submitted themselves to these new regulations and even learned from the lions, to keep apart so as to be less noticeable targets. 

The so-called vegetarian cats also ordained that for the purpose of better camouflage the sheep should grow manes and learn to roar like lions. Those aims, however, were only partially achieved. 

Now every night the short-maned flock scattered in all directions, bleating and attempting to roar, only to reunite the next day in even lesser numbers to complain about the wolves and to render homage to the group of lions, in the middle of which they would soon form a small white core surrounded by yellow manes.

When the last sheep was taken by the throat, it willingly gave its blood in recompense to the lions for having protected it for such a long time from the invisible wolves.

As for the lions, they picked out another flock to begin their civilizing work again.