the beasts of the field and forest had a lion as their king. he was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. during his reign1 he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the wolf and the lamb, the panther and the kid, the tiger and the stag, the dog and the hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity2. the hare said, "oh, how i have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity3 by the side of the strong." and after the hare said this, he ran for his life.