The Lion’s Hair - Summary:

The story “The Lions’ Hair” is an Ethiopian folk tale that is about love and determination to climb out from the problems or to get the resolution in life. “Patience and harmony should replace to erase the misunderstanding and conflict” is the moral lesson of the story.

The story is about a young man and a young woman who fell in love and got married. For a short while, they were happy but after a few months, there wasn’t the day without quarreling with each other. They used to quarrel in minor issues like not keeping clothes in the order, cutting nails on the floor, not coming house o time, etc. So the woman went to an old judge for the divorce. The judge told her that if she wanted to be united again to spend the harmonious and conjugal life, he had the medicine but she should bring the hair of the lion’s tail. She was ready to do so. Then she went to the riverside with the fresh meat in the sack for many days to make the lion familiar.

At last, she was able to feed the lion with her own hands and brought the hair from the lion’s tail. Then she came to the judge and told him to give the medicine. In response, the judge replied that he had already given her all the medicine i.e. her determination not to be separated from her husband. He told her that if both of them try to remain patient and resolve the problems, they will be happy together for a long time. And then the woman went home with a new resolution.

Hence, the story is about the importance of patience and determination to overcome life.