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The Lion, Lioness and the Snake
Before the human race, there was once a kingdom, where the lion and the lioness ruled and kept peace among all the living things. As they usually took care of all the important affairs of the kingdom, the lion and the lioness had a separate room they called ‘The Cave’, where nobody but them was allowed to come in. There, they used to make all the most important decisions in private before revealing them to the rest of the animals.
In the kingdom lived all kinds of animals. Big animals, small animals, thin animals and fat animals. Animals with legs, animals with wings, animals with fins and animals with nothing but their body, like the snake, who was known for being selfish and for always wanting to know everything about everyone, even if it was none of her business.
New Year’s was soon to come, and the rulers wanted to have a party for the entire kingdom, where all animals were invited to celebrate the end of another great year. They both decided to go to the cave so they could plan the party. The snake saw them walk into the cave and decided to sneak in. The lion and the lioness were discussing whether to make the party a surprise for everyone or to simply tell them all to go.
“We must tell them!” said the lioness.
“I don’t think we should” replied the lion.
“But it will be a complete disaster if we don’t!” answered the lioness.
“You don’t know that!” said the lion.
“But it will be on New Year’s Eve! We have to let them know what’s going to happen!” she said.
The snake heard this and left quickly.
The days went by and New Year’s Eve was getting closer. The snake deduced that the king was trying to hide the truth about the end of the world, and since she was such a selfish snake, she wanted to be the one to tell everyone about it. The gossip spread quickly among all animals in the kingdom. Everybody started panicking and decided to confront the king.
“We want to know the truth! We want to know the truth!” shouted the animals.
The king woke up to this scandal and said: “Easy, my people, would one of you please explain to me what is going on?”
“We want to know what will happen on New Year!” shouted a gorilla.
“How do they know?” asked the lioness to her husband.
“Well, we wanted to make it a surprise” said the lion, “but it seems like all of you already know…”
“We are having a big party for everyone!” said the lioness joyfully.
“A party? So there is no apocalypse? No end of the world?” asked a giraffe in the back.
Everyone started looking at the snake, who seemed to be very ashamed.
“Apocalypse? Who said that tremendous lie?” asked the lion, very confused.
“The snake told us the end of the world was coming on New Year’s Eve and you were trying to hide it from us!” exclaimed a young rabbit.
The lion and the lioness both looked at each other in awe then turned to see the snake with disappointment.
“Is that true, snake?” asked the lioness with a strong yet subtle voice.
The snake could not bear the shame her obtrusiveness had caused and started begging for forgiveness. The lion forgave her although she had to be punished for betraying the rulers and the kingdom, so she was uninvited to the party and also left her an untrustworthy reputation.
Moral: Don’t poke your nose where it’s not wanted.
