The Goat and the Lion, by P. V. Ramaswami Raju

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“I have waited long and patiently. Heaven has, after all, been kind to me,” said the goat, and shook his horns and his beard, and made a start as if he were about to spring upon the lion.

The latter said to himself, “This animal looks like a goat, but it does not talk like one. So it is very likely some wicked spirit in this shape. Prudence often serves us better than valour, so for the present I shall return to the wood,” and he turned back.

The goat rose up, and, advancing to the mouth of the cave, said, “Will you come back tomorrow?”

“Never again,” said the lion.

“Do you think I shall be able to see you, at least, in the wood tomorrow?”

“Neither in the wood, nor in this neighbourhood any more,” said the lion, and running to the forest, soon left it with his kindred.

by P. V. Ramaswami Raju ?-1897

From ‘Indian Fables’ (1887) by P. V. Ramaswami Raju.

Précis

The lion was taken aback by the sinister calm of the goat, and leapt to the conclusion that he was some perilous spirit, not to be tangled with. So even as the goat sweetly expressed a hope they would meet again, the lion turned tail, and promising that he would never come back, fled with all his kind.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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