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The Battle of the Felines

There was a time in a sunny grassland where two lion families roamed the land; the Lombardi and the Bianchi family, whom have rivalries that go past generation after generation. The male lions from both families have had the aching need to defend their honor and the deciding factor has always been the number of gazelles each lion could manage to kill in a day. This would not only be a demonstration of strength, of ability, of utmost respect with the added benefit of a great lunch. This contest would go on a day a week without interruption, and for as long as they can remember no family has shown superiority over the other mustering 3 gazelles per each male lion. The growing desperation and the consuming ambition got to the Lombardi lion hard. Hour after hour his rivalry was the only thing he could think about. One rainy day before the weekly contest the Lombardi leader discovered some wild berries he hadn’t seen before; a little skeptical about them but intrigued by their shape, he ate them one by one. Immediately he started to feel better, and the Lombardi lion realized that these berries were extremely special. The day of the contest, Bianchi Lion realized that there was something different about his rival. After losing by 2 gazelles, he realized something was out of the ordinary. The day that followed the contest, Bianchi followed  Lombardi on the night, who without realizing led him to the berries. The Bianchi lion watched his rival devour the berries and knew they had something to do with the win from the other day. When he had the chance, he ate the berries and became ready for the next contest. Who would’ve thought, both Lions tied at 5 gazelles.

They both began to come up to each other on the number of gazelle they would kill in a day. Both became extremely ambitious about the goal and as they finished the day, they increased their dose of berries. 5,7,9,10 gazelles they all tried their best to beat each other with the power of the shocking berries.

Days went by and the game continued day after day, whether it was hot or cold, or if they were tired or not. They only wanted one thing: the title of the superior family in the kingdom. Every day they hunted more and more gazelles, it was a bloodbath. Then one of the first contests in which there was torrential rain, both the Bianchi and Lombardi lions lined up for the hunt. After hours and hours they realized there were no more gazelles anywhere to be seen. They all had died as part of their competition to the point of no return. That day both lions got back home with their egos shattered and their stomachs empty.

A few days after they realized that not only did they have nothing left to eat, but the berries also made them have even hungrier. After the rainy afternoon when the contest came to its end,  the Bianchis and the Lombardis had nothing else to eat but insipid grass and water. This fable teaches us that wrong ambition gets you into a bad situation in which there is no upside. Neither of the Lions won their contest, and they were left with nothing to eat for them and their families for the rest of time but grass.