The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · ~750 CE
The lion and the bull were friends — the jackals made sure they were not
A lion and a bull lived peacefully and shared pasture. The jackal Dimna convinced each that the other was plotting against him.
Ibn al-Muqaffa' · the lion · the bull · Dimna
From historyHistory and classical literature, legend included. An analogy to think with, not a modern precedent.
What it means today
When a competitor, a middleman, or even an internal rival tells you what your partner is 'really' thinking, the damage starts when you treat the warning as fact without going to the source.
What happened
In the first tale of Kalila wa Dimna a lion and a bull become companions in the forest. They graze together and trust one another. The jackal Dimna, ambitious to rise at court, sees the bull as a rival for the lion's favour and decides to separate them.
Dimna whispers to the lion that the bull is growing proud and plans to overthrow him. He then tells the bull that the lion is only fattening him for a meal. Neither animal checks the accusation with the other. The lion, acting on fear, attacks the bull. The bull, now seeing the lion as an enemy, fights back but is overcome.
The partnership ends in the bull's death and the lion's regret. The fable, translated into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffa' around 750 CE, frames the rest of the book: the danger to a ruler is rarely the obvious enemy; it is the adviser who profits from turning friends against each other.
Why it happened
- The lion treated Dimna's self-interested warning as intelligence, even though the bull's behaviour had never changed
- Neither partner spoke directly to the other about the accusation; suspicion became evidence because it was repeated
- Dimna's reward came from division, so the advice he gave was aligned with his own advancement, not the lion's safety
The lesson
A partnership is undone not by the first suspicion but by the decision to act on it without asking the partner.
Aftermath
The tale opens Kalila wa Dimna, the Arabic mirror-for-princes translated by Ibn al-Muqaffa' around 750 CE. It became the standard warning that a ruler's closest companions are often the source of his worst decisions.
Sources
- FUNCI — 'Kalīla wa-Dimna: an inspiring literary-political fable'
- Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Kalila and Dimna
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