The Lion and the Hare

One day, a lion roasted a piece of juicy stag meat in his large garden. The modest tortoise living next door smelled the amazing steak with peppercorns and it made her mouth water instantly.

She only had some simple and plain porridge at home, so she decided to go outside and eat her boring porridge - while smelling the amazing aroma coming from the lion’s garden.

That way, she would enjoy her meal more, she hoped. “Perhaps the smell will make everything taste better!” she thought. She ate quietly and swiftly, all of the time smelling his feast.

The next day, she met the lion and told him: “What a splendid dinner you were making yesterday! It smelled so heavenly! Even my porridge tasted much better with that delicious smell of your meat tickling my nose!”

The lion growled and said: “So that’s why my meat didn’t taste good at all! You sniffed all of the yummy taste away! I swear I couldn’t taste a good bite!”

The terrified tortoise didn’t even manage to respond before the lion continued: “Because you stole all that flavour from smelling my food, I’m going to go to the sultan and tell him everything.

I still have a piece of the meat from yesterday. He’ll see right away there’s not a trace of taste in it. I’ll demand five barrels of golden mead as a small compensation for your crime, as well as some harsh punishment for you!”

The desperate tortoise immediately set off to get some mead for the lion, racking her brain in the meantime, trying to figure out what she could possibly tell the sultan to avoid any extra punishment.

She didn’t want to be put in jail or anything worse. Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the grass and…