A shepherd brought his sheep into the field to graze. Suddenly, a tiger came out the woods the shepherd picked up his staff and jumped up.
The tiger was just about to spring at the man when he saw the staff and got frightened. He thought it was a gun. The stared at each other, and neither dared to make the first move.
At that moment, a fox came running by. He saw that the tiger and the shepherd were afraid of each other and decided to turn the situation to his own advantage.
He ran up the tiger and said, “cousin tiger, there is no reason to be afraid of a man. Jump on and have a good meal”
“he has a gun. He’ll fire,” growled the tiger
“Well, I’ll go and ask him not to shoot you. What will you give me if I save you?”
“Anything you ask”
The fox ran to the shepherd and said, “Uncle shepherd. The tiger wants to make a meal of you. What will you give me if I save you?”
And the shepherd promised, “Anything you ask”
The fox ran to tiger and said, “I just persuaded the shepherd not to shoot you. Hurry up and run now!” the tiger turned and leaped away as fast as he could. And the fox came back to the shepherd. “Uncle shepherd, you did not forget your promise?”
“No” said the shepherd “Tell me what you want”
“I don’t want much, only a bite out of your leg,“ said the fox
But just as the fox was about to sink his teeth into it, the shepherd screamed. The fox jumped back
“Who made that noise?”
“Well…. Last year I ate the cubs of a lion,” said the shepherd. Now the cubs have grown up in my stomach . I guess they smell you and want to get at you, so they are roaring.
The fox got even more frightened, then he said to the shepherd that he wanted to see the tiger.
When he met the tiger, he said, “I saved your live when you were frightened of the shepherd, and you made a promise. Now you must keep it!”
“What promise?” roared the tiger. “I am the shah of these woods. Who dares to say that I was frightened?” and he raised his paw to strike the fox down.
There is no gratitude in this world,” the fox said to himself, and slunk into his hole to teach his children to stay away from men and tigers