Once upon a time there was a man, and his work was to set traps. Every
morning he went out and set his traps for game, and in the evening he
returned to his house, for he was a poor man, and there was no money in
the house, and so this was, indeed, his manner of living.
One day he went forth, and when he came to his traps he met a lion.
And the lion said to him, "Have you not heard that this forest belongs
to me, and that there is no leave to hunt here? for I am the only person
who hunts here, and now, you son of Adam, you have come to hunt in my
forest. Do you not know that I have the strength of forty men?"
And the man answered him, "Oh, master, I had not the news that this was
your forest, so now make what plan you like, for I can do nothing."
Then the lion said to him, "We will make this arrangement together. You
may hunt game here, but of every animal you catch you must give me the
heart, the liver and the entrails, but the meat you may take yourself."
[Illustration: The trapper, the lion, and the hare]
So they made this arrangement together, and every day the man set his
traps, and of the game he caught he gave the lion the heart, liver and
entrails, but the meat he took home, and his wife was glad.
Till one day his wife said to him, "How is it that of all the game you
bring here, you bring the meat only, but the entrails you leave there in
the bush? Now I am feeling sick, and the liver of game is what I long
for."
The man said, "Do you not know that the entrails of all the game belong
to the lion, who is, indeed, the master of the forest?"
And his wife said to him, "I know very well that you give the heart
and the liver to another woman every day, and if it indeed be the lion
who takes them, I will follow you to-morrow and see."
[Illustration: "See, that stone is falling, it will kill us both."]
So the man said, "My wife, you must not come with me to the forest, for
in the forest are fierce animals and thorns and difficulties and
dangers."
So they slept, and in the morning the man went off to his work, and when
he had gone his wife followed him in the way and came to the first and
the second trap, but she entered into the third trap and was caught.
When the man returned from the woods he did not find his wife, and he
looked for her till one of the neighbours said, "I saw your wife follow
you in the way this morning."
And the man thought to himself, "My wife must surely have followed me to
see where the entrails of the game went to."
So he took the way and came to the first and the second trap, but at the
third he saw his wife caught, and beside her sat the lion.
And the lion said, "See what a nice animal you have caught to-day; be
quick and cut it up that I may get my share."