An old lion, who was too weak to hunt or fight for his food, decided that he must get it by his wits. He lay down in a cave, pretending to be ill, and whenever any animals came to visit him, he seized them and ate them.
When many had perished in this way, a fox who had seen through the trick came and stood at a distance from the cave, and inquired how he was.
"Bad," the lion answered, and asked why he did not come in.
"I would have come in," said the fox, "but I saw a lot of tracks going in and none coming out."
A wise man recognizes danger signals in time to avoid injury.