The Lion Makers 

Four Brahmans lived near one another and were friends in a 

small town. Three of them had been scholars their whole lives and 
had learned much, but they had no common sense. The fourth 
couldn’t be bothered to study from dusty dry books, but he had a 
great deal of common sense. 

One day they got together to talk and decided that all their 
accomplishments and learning were pointless if they didn’t go out in 
the world to meet people, see places, gain a little political power, 
and make a little money. So they decided to travel together. 

They hadn’t gone far when the eldest said, “One of us is not 
smart enough or educated enough, having nothing but common 
sense. He won’t make it very far in the world without scholarship, so 
let’s not share our money with him. He should go back home.” 

The second said, “That’s true, friend, you should go home.” But 
the third said, “No, this is no way to treat our friend who we have 
known since we were small children playing together. He will stay 
with us and have a share of the money we earn.” 

So they agreed and all four continued on together. Soon they 

came upon the bones of a dead lion in the forest. One of them said, 
“Here is a chance to show off how intelligent and learned we are. 
Let’s bring him back to life through our superior knowledge.” 
 The first said, “I can assemble the skeleton for I know how it 
should go.” The second said, “I can add on the muscles, organs, 
and skin.” The third said, “I can give it life.” 

But the fourth, who was the man of no scholarship said, “This is 
a lion. If you give it life it will kill every one of us.” 

“The scholars replied, “We will not make all our learning 
pointless. We must use it at every opportunity.” So the fourth replied 
again, “Then wait a moment while I climb this tree.” 

So the man of sense climbed a tree while the other three 

brought the lion to life. The lion rose up and killed the three scholars. 
But the man of sense climbed down after the lion had left and went 
home. 

https://layers-of-learning.com/the-lion-makers-a-story-from-the-panchatantra​/