The lion is the king of the jungle.

We have heard this line about the lion that he is the king of the jungle. Even though he is not found in the jungles but in the savanna. However, the title is given for his unmatching strengths.

But he isn't the smartest and strongest animal in the jungle. Many animals are taller than him (like elephants) and smarter/more intelligent than him (hyena and chimpanzee).

Then why the lion is the king, even though he doesn't fit in the criteria?

They say: it's your attitude that makes you or breaks you.

Lion has the attitude, courage, and pride that makes him the king. He is territorial and knows how to beat someone who casts a bad eye on his family.

Source

But what do we call a lion who lacks these qualities?

A king or a coward?

Our story is about a lion who has just become masculine, his figure is the strongest and muscular. His mane over his head and neck gives him a royal look than any other cat.

He looks perfect. Every animal adores him, respects him, and fears him.

But what if the lion fears himself too?

He is afraid to go out in the sun. He fears something that follows him when he walks and runs outside.

It is huge
It is dark
It follows him
It hunts him

It leaves his side only at night. Only then he can go out and spend time in the vastness of the jungle.

The animals are confused about his behavior. They know that he will be the next king. But they don't want a king who doesn't leave his room. Who they barely see after weeks.

If he becomes their king then who will protect them from outside predators like hyenas, it was their concern.

On the other hand, the lion was ashamed of his fear.

Fear of the dark figure who doesn't leave hik in the daytime and during full moon nights.

His shadow

Yes, he is afraid of his shadow that looks bigger than him. He has self-doubt and insecurity about his features. He lacks confidence.

He doubts his strength.

One day, hyenas attacked the other animals of the jungle, for whom, the lion was the protector.

The hyenas only fear the lion.

But there wasn't any lion to defend them. He was sitting inside his room fearing his own shadow.

Other animals did whatever they could in their capacity. But it was a deadly attack. So it resulted in heavy casualties.

All the animals were very worried about the help they were not getting.
Their enemy had attacked them after knowing their weak self-defense.

If they have dared to attack once then they will do it in the future too, they knew.

They were all sitting helplessly at night and talking their heart out full of worries and the protection they were not getting from their brother(lion) who had the army (strength).

While the lion was listening to all this from the bush.

Maybe calculating what is bigger, his shadow or the pain of these animals.

His shadow started getting smaller and smaller with each passing hour. The sound of the animals mourning over the dead started getting louder and louder.

This has to change, murmured the king when he saw his shadow in the lake while the moon was full on his head.

For the first time he didn't find his shadow scary. He looked deep into his eyes and searched for his lost pride and dignity and courage.

This has to change.

The next morning, a pack of hyenas attacked again. All the animals were running here and there to save their precious life.

Defending themselves? Not a chance.
Getting a lion's help? They lost the hope.

The lion came outside of his residence and roared more fiercely. The hyenas panicked. They were hunting their prey in the most immoral way.

Then the table turned.

The king of the jungle came and defended his territory and made them run to never take advantage of his weakness again.

All the animals were relieved seeing only a few breathless bodies on the ground.

The lion turned towards them, ashamed of his previous attitude during the attack.

The animal knew they would have been gone too if the lion didn't show up.

They knew his worth and his authority and they wasted no more seconds to accept him as their king.

In life, we also have self-doubt about our skills, our bodies, our height, and our skin.
We restrict ourselves to one room due to the fear of people's judgment.

We even forget that our true value is accepting ourselves for who we are and making the most out of it to benefit our community.

When we give love and respect our true self, people around us start giving us the same

^{The story is a work of fiction I read online but expressed in my way}