Lion 39;s Skin

[Klacee Sawatzky]

AnAss found a Lion's skin left in the forest by a hunter. He dressed himself in it, and amused himself by hiding in a thicket and rushing out suddenly at the animals who passed that way. All took to their heels the moment they saw him.

The Ass was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, just as if he were King Lion himself, that he could not keep from expressing his delight by a loud, harsh bray. A Fox, who ran with the rest, stopped short as soon as he heard the voice. Approaching the Ass, he said with a laugh:

Of the two Greek versions of this story, the one catalogued as number 188 in the Perry Index concerns an ass that puts on a lion's skin, and amuses himself by terrifying all the foolish animals. At last coming upon a fox, he tries to frighten him also, but the fox no sooner hears the sound of his voice than he exclaims, "I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not heard your bray." The moral of the story is often quoted as, clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.[1] It is this version that appears as Fable 56 in the collection by Babrius.[2]

The second version is listed as number 358 in the Perry Index. In this the ass puts on the skin in order to be able to graze undisturbed in the fields, but he is given away by his ears and is chastised.[3] In addition to the Greek versions, there is a Latin version by Avianus, dating from the later fifth century. This version was adapted by William Caxton, with the moral cautioning against presumption. Literary allusions to this fable have been frequent since classical times[4] and into the Renaissance, such as in William Shakespeare's King John.[5] La Fontaine's Fable 5.21 (1668) also follows this version. The moral La Fontaine draws is not to trust to appearances, because clothes do not make the man.[6]

In India, the same situation appears in Buddhist scriptures as the Sihacamma Jataka. Here the ass's master puts the lion's skin over his beast, and turns it loose to feed in the grain fields during his travels. The village watchmen are usually too terrified to do anything, but finally one of them raises the villagers. When they chase the ass, it begins to bray, betraying its true identity, and is then beaten to death. A related tale, the Sihakottukha Jataka, plays on the motif of being given away by one's voice. In this story, a lion sires a son on a she-jackal. The child resembles his father, but has a jackal's howl, and is therefore advised to remain silent.[7] A common European variant on this theme appears in the Ladino Sephardic proverb, asno callado, por sabio contado: "a silent ass is considered wise."[8] An English equivalent is "a fool is not known until he opens his mouth."

"The Ass in the Lion's Skin" was one of the several Aesop's fables put to use by American political cartoonist Thomas Nast, when it was rumoured in 1874 that Republican president Ulysses S. Grant intended to stand for election for an unprecedented third term in 1876. At the same time, there was a false report that animals had escaped from the Central Park Zoo, and were roaming the streets of New York. Nast combined the two items in a cartoon for the November 7 edition of Harpers Weekly. Titled "Third Term Panic", it depicts a donkey in a lion's skin, labelled "Caesarism", and scattering other animals that stand for various interests.[12]

In the twentieth century C. S. Lewis put the fable to use in The Last Battle, the final volume of The Chronicles of Narnia. A donkey named Puzzle is tricked into wearing a lion's skin, and then manipulated so as to deceive the simple-minded into believing that Aslan the lion has returned to Narnia. He then becomes a figurehead for a pseudo-government that works contrary to the interests of the Narnians. Kathryn Lindskoog identifies the Avianus version as the source of this episode.[13]

"The man that once did sell the lion's skin while the beast lived, was killed with hunting him. Remember that!" His back to the wall, the shadow of the noose over him, Justin Caryll flung these words at the brother who sought to destroy him.

Since childhood and his mother's cruel death, young Caryll had been bred in France by his guardians for one purpose—to wreak their vengeance on the father who had never known him. But Caryll did not complete his mission. Instead, he sailed for England and plunged into a maelsrom of dissension and revolt that teemed with danger for him—and for beautiful Mistress Winthrop who loved him. But, in the end the hunter failed, and in this case, the lion was generous.

In his introduction to American printing of The Lion's Skin, Sabatini refers to this novel and several others as "sins of his literary youth." While, the book is certainly not as well thought out as Captain Blood and lacks the polish of Scaramouche, I find very little here for which to appologize.

Like many of his stories, The Lion's Skin is a romp through the upper classes during a time of political turmoil. Justin Caryll is the illegitimate son of the Earl of Ostermore who has been raised in France by a friend of his mother's, Sir Richard Everard. Caryll is honorable, intelligent, educated, well-bred, loyal...in short, the typical, "perfect" Sabatini hero. Lord Ostermore is self-centered and cowardly, but not the main antagonist. That is left to his son, Viscount Rotherby, who is just as vain and egotistical as his father, but whose primary character flaws are that he has no sense of honor and is a bully. Caryll and Rotherby meet when Caryll stops a mock wedding Rotherby has set up to dishonor Ostermore's ward.

Like all the other characters in the novel, the women are not as clearly drawn here as in Sabatini's later works. There are two major ones: Lady Ostermore, the bitter, shrewish wife, and Hortensia, the beautiful, kind and trusting ward. They are not quite cardboard cutouts, but room for their characterization is sacrificed for turnings of the plot.

The basic themes of the book, revenge and illegitimacy, are devices that Sabatini comes back to time and again in his other novels. This book does not cover any new ground, but the political intrigues in which Justin Caryll considers ensnaring his father, and the relationship Justin has to his foster father, Sir Richard, make this novel worth snuggling up to with a cup of hot cocoa on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

As FumbleFingers pointed out in his comment, it's from Shakespeare's King Henry V (Google sample). Seeing it in the context of the script (with its original punctuation) makes it easier to understand. The man sold the lion's skin while the lion was alive, but was killed by hunting the lion. The meaning behind it seems to be that the man sold something he did not have (the lion's skin) and failed to get it (died). Not only did he fail to deliver, he was ruined by his folly.

I may be wrong, but my interpretation of these lines is that the man was consumed by his obsession with hunting a certain lion, but once he had caught and killed it, he lost interest to the point where eventually he sold the skin, as a person might sell any possession he no longer cares much about.

The lion skin Belt of the magical Art is arguably one of the most elusive, fascinating, and, in our contemporary context of sensitivity to animal ethics and environmental concerns, controversial of all magical objects. While not an essential or major magical tool in the vast majority of texts that compose the Western grimoiric corpus, it remains a powerful tool with a rich and ancient history. As I aimed to explore this mysterious tool in both theory and practice, I determined to ground myself not only in the historical context in which the Belt of the Art took on its meanings and virtues, but also in a sensitivity to the ethics surrounding its creation. If I was to attempt to craft such a tool, I would need to do it in a way that did not reinforce illegal poaching, promote the further endangerment of lions, who remain an at-risk species globally, or involve any disrespect to the spirit of the lion from which the skin had originated. In this article, I will aim to share some of the historical and traditional background from which the lion skin Belt emerged and how I approached its procurement, crafting, and consecration in the context of an intimate relationship with the spirit of the lioness I now lovingly refer to, in the style of St. Francis of Assis, as Sister Lion.

Dr. Skinner also cites a 3rd century B.C.E. evocation in Mesopotamia reported by Menippus, an author who lived in Gadara, and later in Thebes, in which he alludes to the practice of a magician wearing a lion skin in Graeco-Egyptian magic:

Inspired by this rich history and the magical virtues promised by the Lion Skin Belt of Art, I therefore took on the great challenge of acquiring the means of making it in a loving and respectful way. As already pointed out in the introduction, it was essential to me that if I was to make such a Belt, that the skin should come from an ethical source, that is, not from illegal poaching or from the illegal skin trade that continues to endanger this beautiful and majestic species the world-over.

Moreover, it was important to me not only from an ethical perspective, but also from a spiritual perspective, that the skin be properly obtained because I would be inviting the spirit of the lion associated with the skin to join my spiritual family and to live in my home. It is also worth stating by way of context that I am by nature a passionate animal lover and lover of cats in particular. Protecting endangered species is a cause dear to my heart, as is caring for local animals in my area. To this end, I made sure that every cat I ever owned was a rescue from a non-kill shelter. Therefore, out of love for these beautiful animals, I resolved that unless I could find an ethically-sourced skin, I would never endeavour to make or acquire such a Belt.

Firmly adhering to this resolution, it took me a staggering 16 years to find a skin that met the ethical criteria I had set out. Over the span of the intervening years, I encountered several skins for sale, but always from dubious sellers and often with no clear provenance identified, which made them likely the product of distasteful poaching. Let any prospective skin purchaser be warned that if you cannot ensure the provenance of the skin from a vet-able local source in its country of origin, you will likely be supporting poaching, which I would strongly discourage.

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