The Four Oxen and the Lion

In a certain pasture, four Oxen lived together in constant association, grazing peacefully and providing one another with companionship and protection. United in their strength and standing always together, they presented such a formidable force that no predator dared to attack them. A hungry Lion, observing these creatures from a distance, longed to make one of them his prey, yet he recognized that he could never overcome four oxen acting in concert. He understood that their strength lay not merely in their individual power, but in their unity and their willingness to stand together. Therefore, the Lion devised a cunning stratagem. He approached each ox separately and spoke to them words of such craft and deception that he succeeded in turning them against one another. To the first ox, he said, "Your companions mock you behind your back and plan to drive you from the pasture." To the second, he whispered, "The other three are plotting to betray you to me." He spoke similar deceits to the third and fourth, so that suspicion and mistrust grew in the heart of each. Through these false counsels, the Lion succeeded in dividing the oxen. Each began to wander alone, no longer trusting the companionship of the others. The unity that had protected them dissolved, replaced by fear and suspicion. Once they were separated, the Lion found it simple to attack each individually, subduing them one by one, until all four had fallen to his power. Thus did the oxen learn too late that good counsel—honest advice from trusted sources—is essential to the maintenance of unity and strength. The evil counsel of the lion, working through deception and the corruption of trust, proved more powerful than their combined physical force. United in truth and good counsel, they were invincible; divided by false counsel, they were destroyed.