King Lion's Bed

The Lion was very old, and he found it very difficult to sleep on a bed made of stone. It made his body ache all over, and he could not resist the cold. So he called to the council all the nobles who had soft fine hair or coarse long hair, like the wolves and bears.

"Dear friends," said the lion, "now that I am old, this stone bed is too hard. Will you be so kind as to give me some fur so that I can make a soft cushion? I am sick and tired of sleeping on flagstones."

"Lord Lion," answered all the nobles, "of course we are all happy to honor you, let alone give you any hair, but we will gladly give you our skin. But there are plenty of animals with fur like us. Look at those antelopes, goats, and fawn, they usually don't pay any taxes ah! I think you can ask for it from them. To them, your Majesty will respect them by asking them to pay tribute. They will be very happy!"

The Lion thought their proposal very clever, and he could not find a word to praise their cleverness. But how does their loyalty translate into action?

These nobles caught many poor beasts, plucked all their hair and skinned them. Although the nobles themselves had twice as much fur to give, their loyalty did not cost them a hair. On the contrary, they fish in troubled waters, and every nobleman still takes a tribute, and gets himself a cushion against the winter cold.

We should pursue our own interests in a proper way and not at the expense of others.

獅子大王的床

獅子大王上了年紀，它覺得睡在石頭做的床上真是難受極了，總是把自己的身體弄得渾身酸疼，還抵禦不了寒冷。于是，它召集了所有長着一身柔軟的細毛或粗糙的長毛的貴族，像那些狼啊、熊啊，來參加會議。

獅子說：“親愛的朋友們，現在我年紀大了，這石頭做的床實在是太硬了。你們能不能積點德，分給我一點皮毛，好讓我做一張柔軟的墊子。睡在石闆上，我實在厭惡透了。”

“獅子大王，” 貴族們一齊答道，“我們當然都很樂意孝敬您，别說是一點毛了，就是要我們的皮，們也是很樂意給您的啊。不過，像我們這樣長着一身皮毛的動物可多了。你看那些羚羊、山羊，還有小鹿，它們平時可都不交什麼稅啊！我覺得您大可以向它們索取啊，對于它們來說，大王讓它們來納貢，就是瞧得起它們，它們一定會很樂意的！”

獅子大王覺得它們的提議很高明，它簡直找不到一個合适的詞來贊賞它們的聰明。可是它們的忠誠又怎樣見之于行動呢？

這些貴族捉住了許多可憐的野獸，拔光它們的毛，剝掉它們的皮。雖然貴族們自己有雙倍的皮毛可以貢獻出來，但它們的忠誠并沒有損及自個兒一根毫毛。正好相反，它們渾水摸魚，每一個貴族都照樣撈了一份貢品，都給自己弄到了冬天禦寒的墊子。

我們追求自己的利益，要有适當的方法，不能建立在損害别人利益的基礎之上。

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