The Lion, the Rooster and the Donkey

The Lion, the Rooster and the Donkey. Once upon a time a rooster and a donkey were feeding together. When a lion attacked the donkey, the rooster crowed and the lion (who fears the sound made by the rooster) ran off. The donkey, thinking that he had been the one who scared off the lion, followed in pursuit but when he had chased the lion a distance away from the rooster, the lion turned on the donkey and devoured him. As he was dying, the donkey cried out, "I should have known better: since I don't come from a family of warriors, why on earth did I rush into battle?"

Leo, Gallus et Asinus. Gallus aliquando cum Asino pascebatur. Leone autem aggresso Asinum, Gallus exclamavit, et Leo (qui Galli vocem timet) fugere incipit. Asinus, ratus propter se fugere, aggressus est Leonem; ut vero procul a gallicinio persecutus est, conversus Leo Asinum devoravit, qui moriens clamabat, "Iusta passus sum; ex pugnacibus enim non natus parentibus, quamobrem in aciem irrui?"

Notes. This is Barlow 46 , which is Perry 82 in Perry's classification scheme. The motif of the lion being afraid of the rooster crowing figures in other fables, too, such as the story of the lion and the elephant, Perry 259.