THE LION AND

THREE OXEN
BY: AESOP

VOCABULARY WORDS:
Graze (verb) : to feed on growing
herbage : crop and eat grass {cattle
grazing on the slopes}
Savanna (noun) :a treeless plain.
Coward (adjective) :one who shows
ignoble fear : a basely timid easily
frightened, and easily daunted
person.
Rampage (noun) :violent , riotous, or
reckless action or behavior

VOCABULARY WORDS:
Stalk (verb) :to pursue quarry, or prey
stealthily or
under cover.
Sort (verb) : to distinguish between.
Glad (adjective) : experiencing
pleasure, joy, or
delight through
some immediate
cause.
Duel (noun) : a combat between two
persons .

THE STORY:
Once, there were three oxen
who were very good friends.
One was the red ox, the black
ox, and the brown ox. There
were always together in the
African savanna where they
lived.

THE STORY:
One Day, while they were
grazing a lion came up to them
to eat the up. But the three oxen
stayed close together and
pointed their sharp horns at the
lion without giving a chance to
take another single step at any
one of them.

THE STORY:
They kept their guard
even as the lion circled
around them many times.
Finally, the lion gave up
and went his way. The
three oxen were relieved
of fear.

THE STORY:
Meanwhile, the lion kept wondering
how he could catch the oxen. Then,
he realized that he failed the first
time because the oxen cooperated
closely with each other. It became
clear to him that the only way he
could get at them was to separate
them first and then eat one by one.

THE STORY:
When the Lion got back to the
grazing land, he was fortunate to
see the oxen grazing separately.
He unveiled his initial plan by
approaching the Red Ox first.

THE STORY:
He made known to him that he
was not going to try to attack
him because he could not match
his strength. Then speaking
softly, he tricked the red ox into
believing that the black ox told
him he was the strongest of the
three of them.

THE STORY:
Having fooled the Red Ox, he went
over quietly to the Black Ox again
made known he came in peace. When
he has about quieted Black Oxs
fears, he told him that the Red Ox
him that he was the weakest of the
three of them.

THE STORY:
Having succeeded in fooling the Red
Ox and the Black Ox he proceeded to
visit the Brown Ox. The lion told the
Brown Ox that the Black Ox boasted
about having defended him and the
Red Fox. He also related to him that
the Black ox had a quite a poor
opinion of him.

THE STORY:
The Lion said that the Black Ox thinks
the Brown Ox is a coward and a goodfor-nothing, which sent the Brown Ox
on a rampage. After the Lion
unleashed his plans, he went over to
the side to watch how the three oxen
would sort out their differences.

THE STORY:
When the three finally met they
could not control themselves and
started yelling at each other. The
Black Ox challenge the other two
to a duel to determine who really
was the strongest.

THE STORY:
The Red Ox would not concede
and was ready to fight for his
honor, while the Brown Ox
insisted that he was the
strongest. Unable to control
their tempers, they began to
attack each other.

THE STORY:
They gored at each other until
they were all covered with blood
and hurting all over. Finally, they
stopped fighting but decided to
end their good friendship and
just parted ways.

THE STORY:
The Lion dance with joy. He
stalked each of them one after
the other. Being alone and
defenseless, and very much
weakened after the encounter,
each of the oxen easily fell
victim to the attacks of the lion.

THE END

QUESTIONS:

BIOGRAPHY OF THE
AUTHOR:
Aesop