# The Ass in the Lion’s Skin explained — Indian Fairy Tales

> Chapter companion for Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.

## What happens

A hawker dresses his ass in a lion's skin to let it graze freely in fields, but when villagers discover the trick after the ass brays, they beat it to death. The future Buddha observes and comments on the folly of pretending to be what one is not.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cunning and Wisdom

The ass's disguise is a cunning trick that fails when its true nature is revealed, while the future Buddha's wisdom sees through the pretense.

### Greed and Its Consequences

The ass's desire to eat freely leads to its ruin when it cannot maintain the deception.

## Character check-ins

### Buddha

The future Buddha, born a peasant, observes and pronounces verses on the ass's downfall.

### The Ass

The ass, dressed in a lion's skin, betrays itself by braying and is beaten to death.

## Key lines

> This is not a lion’s roaring, Nor a tiger’s, nor a panther’s; Dressed in a lion’s skin, ’Tis a wretched ass that roars!

The sound is not that of a lion, tiger, or panther; it is merely a pitiful donkey disguised in a lion's hide.

_The future Buddha reveals the ass's true identity through its bray._

> Long might the ass, Clad in a lion’s skin, Have fed on the barley green. But he brayed! And that moment he came to ruin.

The donkey could have continued eating the barley indefinitely while wearing the lion's skin, but its braying led to its immediate destruction.

_The hawker laments the ass's downfall caused by its own voice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se/chapters/the-ass-in-the-lion-s-skin
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