Reading Notes, Part B: Week 9 - "Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser Than His Mother"

Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser Than His Mother

I chose this story because throughout my life I have often thought myself wiser than my mother, although this is probably not true. Basically, in this story the young lion encounters a man and they have an angry dispute about who will go to the rain-field. And I think neither ended up going. However, the lion went to his mother and she told him to be weary of the man and his dogs/piercing weapons.

Of course, the young lion did not listen well. He went to ambush the man. But he could not outsmart the man and his dogs. The dogs attacked the lion and the man speared the lion. However, they spared his life so that the lion's could be "taught by his mother." The man understood that the lion was young and dumb, thus sparing his life.

If I were to rewrite this story, I would probably use a teenage human and his mother. Angsty teens never like to listen to their mothers. This is often their downfall.

Bibliography. "Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser Than His Mother" from South African Folktales by James Honey (1910). Web Source.

(Lioness and Cubs: Image by TheOtherKev from Pixabay)