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The Lion's Whisker

Oftentimes a story will capture my heart as if it created just for me to tell. That is how I feel about The Lion’s Whisker. This story has come to me in various forms as my life has changed. When struggling with a new marriage, the Ethiopian version came to me. As I adapted to having a stepdaughter, the Korean version of stepmother and stepson found me. I find comfort in the telling of whatever version I opt to tell as if by telling the story, I heal a little bit more.

 
The Lion’s Whisker (Ethiopian)
A woman found her husband more discontent than usual. She suspected the worst. Hearing of a wise man in the village, she went to him for a love potion that might return her husband to her.
 
The wise man told her he needed but one ingredient, a whisker from a live lion. The woman did not know how she would get that leaving more frustrated than when she had arrived.
 
The next morning brought a new perspective. The woman went to the butcher, bought fresh meat, and went to the area where the lions napped. She threw the meat to a lion and waited. He sniffed the meat, ate it, and napped.
 
Days passed as she repeatedly fed the lion. One day he ate from her hand and she took from his chin a whisker.
 
Running to the wise man, she showed the whisker to him only to watch him throw the whisker into the fire. “You do not need a potion. If you can tame a lion, surely you can tame your husband.”
 
Over time, I suppose the woman and the man learn to love one another, but the story ends with only the wise words of the shaman. When faced with a difficult student or situation, I have often referred back to the lesson of this story. Patience is a virtue.
 
Ashabranner, Brent and Russell Davis. The Lion’s Whiskers and Other Ethiopian Tales. New Haven: Linnet Books, 1997.
Tchana, Katrin. The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.