The Lion Separates the Three Bulls

“The Lion Separates the Three Bulls” is a brief fable about how division makes strength vulnerable. Three Bulls can resist the Lion while they remain together; after he separates them through guileful speeches, he attacks each alone and eats them one by one. The final maxim, “Union is strength,” turns that sequence into an explicit warning against the consequences of disunity.

Setup: Strength in Company

The story begins with the Bulls pasturing together for a long time. Their association is not described as an alliance formed in response to the Lion: it is simply their established condition. Yet their togetherness has a practical consequence. The Lion lies in ambush, hoping to make them his prey, but fears to attack while they stay together. Their shared presence is a defense even before they speak or act against him.

The opening contrast establishes the fable’s central balance of power. The Lion has the advantage of concealment and predatory intent, but the Bulls’ unity prevents him from acting without fear. The danger is present from the outset; what protects the Bulls is not a change in the Lion’s character or aim, but their continued company.

Division by Guile

Unable to attack the Bulls as a group, the Lion succeeds “by guileful speeches” in separating them. The fable does not specify what he says or describe the Bulls’ response, so the mechanism is deliberately compressed: his words achieve the division that force could not. Speech is consequential here not because the story preserves a particular argument, but because it alters the Bulls’ circumstances and removes their collective protection.

Once the Bulls are separated, the Lion’s conduct changes from waiting to attacking. He no longer fears to approach them while they feed alone. The sequence makes the cause of their vulnerability plain: first the Lion divides them, then he can act against each without facing the others together.

Outcome and Moral

The Lion feasts on the Bulls “one by one” and at his own leisure. Their loss unfolds individually, in contrast to the long period in which they had pastured together. The ending leaves no rescue or reunion: the Lion’s successful separation is followed by the destruction of the group he had been unable to attack intact.

“Union is strength” supplies the fable’s direct moral. It names the protective force demonstrated by the Bulls’ original togetherness and the cost of losing it. The lesson is not merely that the Lion is stronger than any single Bull; the plot shows that his advantage depends on making the Bulls face him separately. The fable’s spare construction binds moral to action: a single change in the Bulls’ relationship reverses the balance established at the beginning.

Relation to the Collection’s Fable Form

The collection’s preface describes the fable as a short narrative whose fictitious characters convey instruction, with the lesson closely interwoven with the action. This tale exemplifies that compact design: the Lion’s inability to attack a united group, his success in separating it, and the Bulls’ sequential defeat lead directly to the closing maxim. The characters also draw on familiar animal associations identified in the preface: the Lion is bold, and the Bull is strong. Here, however, the Bulls’ strength is shown to depend not only on their individual power but on remaining together.

The preface also cautions that not every story in the collection achieves an equally close fit between narrative, moral, and choice of animal characters, and that the collection includes material from different periods and sources. In this tale, the maxim is explicitly stated and the plot provides its demonstration: unity blocks the Lion’s attack, while division lets him prevail. The closing sentence does not introduce a separate lesson after the event; it distills the event’s governing cause and consequence.