Book One, here titled simply 'Lion, Bull and Two Jackals, deals with friendship. It shows how the close friendship between the Lion and the Bull was formed, grew and eventually was destroyed by a mean and conniving Jackal. It highlights how friendships, indeed all relationships, need tending. Cultivating a friendship, like cultivating a flower, needs careful nurturing, feeding and pruning. But the lessons go beyond how to treasure and keep enduring friendships. They include how to treat others with respect, honesty and loyalty, and how to judge when others are trying to do you harm.
In the frame story, Crafty, an unemployed jackal, looking to win favour with the Lion who rules his forest, introduces the Lion to the Bull. When the Lion and the Bull become close friends, Crafty seeks to destroy the friendship. Cautious, another unemployed jackal, tries to stop Crafty from doing the unforgivable. In the end Crafty succeeds and the Lion kills the Bull.
Inside the frame story are 33 nesting stories. One set are stories that Crafty tells the Lion and Bull to promote himself. Another set are stories the Bull tells Crafty to smooth things over when he himself is obviously in danger (but he is telling them to the wrong animal).
Most of the stories form the debate between the two jackals: Cautious tells stories to prevent Crafty from destroying the friendship between the Lion and the Bull, or Crafty tells stories to Cautious to justify his actions. The remaining stories are deeper nesting stories. Three stories are connected because one character appears in all of them. Two are connected because the storyteller is the same. A group of five stories illustrate a David and Goliath situation, and involve ways the weak can prevail but only with the aid of friends.
Each story, or group of stories, is separated into the frame story of the Lion, Bull and two Jackals, and the stand-alone or nesting stories that illustrate the lessons of the frame story. The frame story presents the do's and don'ts of life and is told on the coloured pages while the stand-alone stories in coloured text on white pages illustrate the point or lesson articulated in the frame story. This arrangement helps the reader to choose to read or ignore the frame stories that deal with life lessons. The frame story can be read without interruption of the illustrating stories. The book can be read in its entirety to experience the original design of this book of stories.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist