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The Best Friends
The Lion and the Tiger were best friends, till they had that big big fight. Are winning arguments worth losing the friendship? Lion and Tiger finds out soon enough!
Long long ago, there was a mighty jungle in the middle of a row of mountains. The jungle was peaceful and lovely, with a little stream flowing through it. All the animals in the jungle lived around that little stream. In this Jungle lived a Lion and a Tiger who were Best of friends! They loved to be with each other. They ate together, played together, fought together, and even slept together!
One fine day, towards the end of Autumn, the Lion and the Tiger had a heated discussion. The topic was “How does it get cold?”.. Such an easy question, you would think! It is cold only when I take bath, you would think! But the Lion and the Tiger lived in the open Jungle and during Winter, it gets really cold out there. Their Mommies couldn’t give them warm woolens so Mother nature gave them warm fur to stay warm.

Today, the discussion became a big fight with the Lion and the Tiger screaming at each other. The Lion said “It gets cold when there is Moon in the sky”. The Tiger argued “No way! It gets cold when there is no Moon in the sky”.
The Lion roared “Are you blind? Yesterday there was Moon in the sky and it was so cold!” The tiger purred “Are you blind? Yesterday it was so cloudy, how could you even see the moon?”. There was no end to the fight.
When the Lion and the Tiger realized that their friendship was at stake, they agreed to go to the Wise Owl in the Banyan Tree. The Wise Owl was the wisest of them all. She heard and saw everything. She could see even at night! The Lion and the Tiger agreed that they would take the Wise Owl’s words as the final fact to this argument. So saying they went towards the Banyan Tree in the middle of the Jungle.
The Wise Owl was meditating in the branches of the tree when they reached. The Lion said “O’ Learned one, Could you please help us out? We have a serious question to ask you!” The Wise Owl opened her kind eyes “Ahh the Inseparable Friends – Lion and the Tiger, it is so good to see you both!”
The Tiger said “O’ Wise One, we do-not feel so friendly today! We had such a big fight over the question of ‘How does it get cold?” and we have come to your for the right answer”. The Lion continued, “I said that it gets cold when there is Moon in the sky but Tiger argued that it gets cold when there is no Moon in the sky”.
The Wise Owl thought for a minute and told “It gets cold at night when there is a cold wind.. Why is the fight about the moon?”
The Wise Owl continued “Oh my dear friends, whether there is moon or not, it will get chilly at night if there is a cold wind. Whether you win or lose the argument you will feel cold at night if there is a cold wind. Just like how whether you win or lose and argument, you will lose a friend if you fight over it!”
The Tiger and Lion understood their folly and decided not to take their arguments to their heart and fight about it.

(This Jataka Tale has been edited to adapt to the taste of early readers)
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