What do you think it was?...  Yes, a LION!  A great, big lion who, while most other denizens of the forest slept, was out hunting for prey.  He came rushing and crashing through the thick undergrowth of the forest, swirling his long tail and opening wide his great jaws, and as he rushed he RO-AR-R-R-ED!

Presently he reached the spot where the little Gnat hung panting at the tip of the waving grass-blade.  Now the little Gnat was not afraid of lions, so when he saw it was only a lion, he cried out—­

“Hi, stop, stop!  What are you making that horrible noise about?”

The Lion stopped short, then backed slowly and regarded the Gnat with scorn.

“Why, you tiny, little, mean, insignificant creature you, how DARE you speak to ME?” he raged.

“How dare I speak to you?” repeated the Gnat quietly.  “By the virtue of right, which is always greater than might.  Why don’t you keep to your own part of the forest?  What right have you to be here, disturbing folks at this time of night?”

By a mighty effort the Lion restrained his anger—­he knew that to obtain mastery over others one must be master over oneself.

“What right?” he repeated in dignified tones. “Because I’m King of the Forest. That’s why.  I can do no wrong, for all the other creatures of the forest are afraid of me.  I DO what I please, I SAY what I please, I EAT whom I please, I GO where I please—­simply because I’m King of the Forest.”

“But who told you you were King?” demanded the Gnat.  “Just answer me that!”

“Who told ME?” roared the Lion.  “Why, everyone acknowledges it—­don’t I tell you that everyone is afraid of me?”

“Indeed!” cried the Gnat disdainfully.  “Pray don’t say all, for I’m not afraid of you.  And further, I deny your right to be King.”

This was too much for the Lion.  He now worked himself into a perfect fury.

“You—­you—­YOU deny my right as King?”

“I do, and, what is more, you shall never be King until you have fought and conquered me.”

The Lion laughed a great lion laugh, and a lion laugh cannot be laughed at like a cat laugh, as everyone ought to know.

“Fight—­did you say fight?” he asked.  “Who ever heard of a lion fighting a gnat?  Here, out of my way, you atom of nothing!  I’ll blow you to the other end of the world.”

But though the Lion puffed his cheeks until they were like great bellows, and then blew with all his might, he could not disturb the little Gnat’s hold on the swaying grass-blade.

“You’ll blow all your whiskers away if you are not careful,” he said, with a laugh—­“but you won’t move me.  And if you dare leave this spot without fighting me, I’ll tell all the beasts of the forest that you are afraid of me, and they’ll make me King.”

“Ho, ho!” roared the Lion.  “Very well, since you will fight, let it be so.”