Story - The Circus Lion

The Circus Lion

Once there was a tamed lion in a circus who could jump through rings of fire and walk on hind legs. He could waggle his tail at his ring master and play along with clowns. He even climbed over the motor cycle and danced with the circus elephants. He was a very happy and proud lion.

One day while performing, he walked on hind legs holding in his mouth a ball the master had tossed to him and he saw the look of wonder in the little boy’s eyes who sat with a gaped mouth. All of a sudden the little boy exclaimed to his mother,

“Look how the King of the forest is afraid of a man!” 

The lion caught the dialogue and pondered on what the child had said. He asked the old circus monkey about it and it said,

“Yes my dear, that’s true. Lion is the King of the Forest. You are a King and not a slave. It’s a pity we can’t escape from here”, the old monkey sighed.

“King Of The Forest!”, he thought to himself and decided that he would run away soon. Before long the lion managed to escape from the circus and reached a forest.

“Now how will the animals know that I am the King?” he wondered.

Soon there came a rabbit and before the lion could say “hello”, the rabbit ran away. Then he saw a deer and wanted to say that he is their new King but the deer ran for its life. Time lapsed and no one waited for the lion to finish his sentence and he sat worried under a tree. Meanwhile, a fox came sneaking and scared the life out of his skin.

“So you are the new animal here, aren’t you?”, asked the fox.

“Yes I came to be King”, said the lion with an enthusiasm in his voice.

“But there is a King already”, the fox said with a twinkling eye.

“Who?” the lion asked with a drooping shoulder.

“Me” said the fox, “I heard that there was a pathetic creature wandering around in the forest scaring animals out of wits trying to say that he is the King. So I came to check who it was. You better leave because here I am the King”, the fox stated.

As soon he had finished there was a crunching sound and recognizing the odor, the fox ran away. Not realizing what was approaching the lion stayed under the tree too afraid to move. And then from the clearing a tusker stepped out, looking angry like always. Seeing the lion looking pathetic and helpless he charged towards the lion. The lion never saw an angry elephant as all the elephants at the circus were pleasant looking and friendly and in utter fear he gave out an agonizing cry.

The elephant stopped astounded, the cry had become a roar that thundered through the entire forest. Every animal ran to hide themselves and the fox was never to be seen.  The elephant turned around and raced away into the trees. 

“Now you are a true King”, commented an old monkey from a tree branch. The lion realized that to become a King was not in mere words but in actions and understood his true potentials. That was his first roar, and the sheer power that pulsated through his veins forced him to give out one more thundering roar more powerful than the first and he knew within that he had truly become a King.

           

           

Every being hides in itself an innate potential, a unique power. No matter how hard the people around us try to suppress our potentials they will surely spring out at one time or the other. The secret is to hold on to our potentials once we realize what they are. To know oneself and to accept one’s talents and powers is the key role to success.