The lion was ill. He had been lying in his cave(洞穴) for several days.
Usually the lion made all the1and the other animals just listened to him. When the lion no longer gave them orders, they didn't know what they should do2, they decided to go to the cave to visit him. One by one, the animals went to the lion's cave, but the3didn't.
After some time, the lion4that the fox had never visited him. He asked a jackal (豺狼) to find out the5.
"Fox," said the jackal, "the lion is 6. Why didn't you go to visit him?"
"Jackal," said the fox, "it's not that I don't want to7him. Several times I went to the mouth on his cave. I saw many footprints. However, the8thing was that they were all going one way—into the cave. There was no9of any footprints coming out."
The fox was so10. The lion wasn't ill at all. He was just too old to hunt. The animals who went into his cave all became his meals!
