The lion would not leave his den on this day; he felt fatigue and exhaustion and did not desire, as was his custom every morning, to rise to the forest to fill it with his roaring. The hours passed while he remained stagnant in his place, lazy. Then it occurred to him to resort to the forest doctor, hoping he would find a cure for the weakness that had afflicted him. When the doctor examined him, he told him that his illness was not physical—all his organs were sound and healthy—but he was suffering from a sudden psychological illness and had to try to find happiness and peace of mind. If he knew the path to his happiness, he would be completely cured and return to his former state.
The king of the forest returned to the den sad and depressed, and began to think about what the doctor had said. As soon as night descended and silence prevailed, he went out heavily to check on his subjects, sad and broken-hearted, searching for someone among the animals to give him the happiness he must find in order to be cured of his illness.
He found the fox looking around anxiously, right and left, his eyes worried. He was astonished by him and asked him the reason for his sleeplessness. The fox told him that he had hunted two prey and one of them had escaped from him and returned to the forest. Sleep overtook him, and he remained awake at the door of a burrow, glancing with his eyes. The lion shook his head and said: “You are a greedy, covetous one; you will never find your happiness.” Then he left him and went on his way. He glimpsed the brown gazelle strutting with itself. When the gazelle saw the lion, he prepared to flee. When the lion tried to reassure him that he meant him no harm, the gazelle said with fear: “I do not feel reassured with anyone in this forest. Everyone covets my beauty and my body, and you are the first of them, king of the forest.” The lion left him and went on, saying to himself: “And you too, gazelle, you will never find your happiness, for you are a wanderer, always fearful, never settling in a place.”
Suddenly a rustling sound flashed. He looked and glimpsed the scorpion. The lion said to him: “You strive all day and never sleep at night.” The scorpion answered: “How do you want me to sleep when I feel hunger? I lie in ambush here to sting and kill.” And of course not you, king of the forest. The lion frowned and said: “You, wretched one, are your own enemy; you have no friend and no companion. How can you be comfortable in your life, how can you sleep with full eyes when you have such thoughts as this?”
The lion had reached the middle of the forest when he saw the snake gliding over the grass. When she saw him, she greeted him. He said to her: “Do you not know rest and tranquility? Do you not sleep and dream?” The snake said as she coiled: “And how can I sleep, king of the forest, when I need a victim to pour my venom into?” The lion said to her: “You foolish one, you will never find a path to happiness, for your heart is filled with malice, hatred, and harm.” The lion completed his path, passing by the bear and the leopard, and all of them were lying in wait for small animals. He knew that all of these did not know the taste of happiness and would never find a path to it.
While he was thinking of returning, he noticed over a tree a small nest of a colored bird that covered its chicks with its wings and slept upon them, calm and happy, while beneath it they went into deep, safe, reassured sleep. The lion was astonished by this scene and realized that this small bird was content with what God had allotted for him. The lion remained a little watching the nest of the gentle bird, feared that he would wake the little ones, walked slowly away, and said to himself: “Those sparrows are content with what God has allotted for them, so they ate and slept happy, their bodies were healthy, and their eyes were at rest.”
When the king of the forest reached his den, he realized the meaning of the doctor’s words and knew that happiness lies in contentment, and that greed and gluttony bring psychological illness to their possessor. In the morning of the next day, the lion had been cured of his illness and returned to him his activity.
From the stories of Kalīlah wa Dimnah.