432 THE LION KILLER. 



He is often killed by a slight wound or an ulcer, because 

 cannot rid himself of the flies that settle on it and breed corrup- 

 tion. 



The sight of a white cock or the ring of metal or china will 

 make him fly. 



When he roars, the earth is frightened, and all animals fly 

 before him, except the ass. 



When the lioness brings forth her young, she deposits them in 

 a damp place, lest otherwise the ants should do them injury, by 

 crawling in their organs. 



Sometimes the cubs scratch or bite their mother's breasts, 

 making them very sore, and the lioness cures herself by eating 

 chameleons. 



A very remarkable trait with the lioness is, that when she 

 leaves home to seek for food for her little ones, she covers over 

 her tracks as she goes, that no one can find her young. When 

 the old lion takes his little ones out to hunt, if he notices that 

 one of them trembles at the sound of any voice or cry, he puts 

 his mouth to his ear, and gives a roar that renders the cub there- 

 after insensible to lesser sounds. 



No animal has such a fetid breath as the lion, and in the dark, 

 his eyes glow like coals. In this respect he resembles the tiger 

 the cat, and the viper. 



When he sees a leathern bottle blown up, he becomes afraid. 



There are some lions that live on sailors, and catch them after 

 the following fashions : 



They frequent the borders of the sea, or the rivers in which 

 the boatmen or fishermen come to take refuge for the night, or 

 draw their seines. 



The lion then hides himself behind a stone until daybreak, 

 knowing that a man will have to come ashore to cast oft* the 

 fastenings of the ship, and the moment that he lands, he seizes 

 him and carries him off, without ever thinking how the lines are 

 to be unfastened when he is gone. 



THE END. 



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