"Ho, ho!" roared the Lion. "Very well, since you will fight, let it be
so."

"You agree to the conditions, then? The one who conquers shall be King?"

"Oh, certainly," laughed the Lion, for he expected an easy victory. "Are
you ready?"

"Quite ready."

"Then--GO!" roared the Lion.

And with that he sprang forward with open jaws, thinking he could easily
swallow a million gnats. But just as the great jaws were about to close
upon the blade of grass whereto the Gnat clung, what should happen but
that the Gnat suddenly spread his wings and nimbly flew--where do you
think?--right into one of the Lion's nostrils! And there he began to
sting, sting, sting. The Lion wondered, and thundered, and blundered--but
the Gnat went on stinging; he foamed, and he moaned, and he groaned--still
the Gnat went on stinging; he rubbed his head on the ground in agony, he
swirled his tail in furious passion, he roared, he spluttered, he sniffed,
he snuffed--and still the Gnat went on stinging.

"O my poor nose, my nose, my nose!" the Lion began to moan. "Come down,
come DOWN, come DOWN! My nose, my NOSE, my NOSE!! You're King of the
Forest, you're King, you're King--only come down. My nose, my NOSE, my
NOSE!"

So at last the Gnat flew out from the Lion's nostril and went back to his
waving grass-blade, while the Lion slunk away into the depths of the