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Short Stories (Stories for the Youth), book by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

446- A Donkey Wearing the Skin of a Lion

St-Takla.org Image: Young donkey or young ass - You never see people riding donkeys! - Bahir Dar and Blue Nile Falls - From St-Takla.org's Ethiopia visit - Photograph by Michael Ghaly for St-Takla.org, April-June 2008. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: حمار صغير، جحش - !لن ترى أي شخص يمتطي حمارا، أبداً - صور مدينة بحردار وشلالات النهر الأزرق، الحبشة - من صور رحلة موقع الأنبا تكلا لإثيوبيا - تصوير مايكل غالي لـ: موقع الأنبا تكلا هيمانوت، إبريل-يونيو 2008

A donkey felt very depressed, as the animals had chosen the Lion as their king. At his roar, all the animals fled to their holes and the monkeys climbed the trees quickly in fear. The donkey said to himself, “Why should I remain a donkey forever and why don’t I become a Lion? I’ll live the life of kings and be feared by all the animals in the forest.”

The donkey wore the skin of a lion; he looked just like a lion. In great pride, he began to walk in the forest. All the animals fled from him thinking him a lion. He looked up to a tree and saw monkeys standing on the branches terrified from him. He started talking with the monkeys. The monkeys discovered his nature when he was talking to them and they began to mock at him. The lion heard the donkey’s voice. He came out of his den towards the donkey thinking him a fellow Lion.

The Lion looked right and left hoping to find the donkey but couldn’t find him. In pride the donkey desired to assure his greatness and started to talk with the Lion. As soon as the Lion discovered the truth, he devoured him.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: حمار يرتدي جلد أسدٍ.

May I never have to wear a robe which isn’t mine,

Or hide in deceitful appearances.

May you change my inner nature, that I may truly be a Lion

Not through wearing a skin but through a sincere heart.

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