The Aged Lion and the Fox

A lion grown old, and from then on unable to get food by force, judged that he must do it by cunning. So he went to a cave and lay down there, feigning illness; and thus, when the animals came to visit him, he seized and devoured them. Now many had already perished when the fox, having guessed his trick, presented himself, and, stopping at a distance from the cave, asked how he was. "Poorly," said the lion, who asked why he did not come in. "I," said the fox, "would have come in, if I did not see many tracks of animals going in, but of any coming out, none."