I called softly to the mother not to be alarmed; and,
invoking the name of the Lord, fired my piece. The ball passed directly
over the hair of my boy's head, and lodged in the forehead of the lion,
immediately above his eyes, which shot forth, as it were, sparks of
fire, and stretched him on the ground, so that he never stirred more."
Nothing is more common than for the keepers of wild beasts to play with
the lion, to pull out his tongue, and even to chastise him without
cause. He seems to bear it all with the utmost composure; and we very
rarely have instances of his revenging these unprovoked sallies of
cruelty. However, when his anger is at last excited, the consequences
are terrible. Labat tells us of a gentleman who kept a lion in his
chamber, and employed a servant to attend it, who, as is usual, mixed
blows with his caresses. This state of things continued for some time,
till one morning the gentleman was awakened by a noise in his room,
which at first he could not tell the cause of; but, drawing the
curtains, he perceived a horrid spectacle--the lion growling over the
man's head, which he had separated from the body, and tossing it round
the floor! He immediately flew into the next apartment, called to the
people without, and had the animal secured from doing further mischief.
We are told of the combat of a lion and a wild boar, in a meadow near
Algiers, which continued for a long time with incredible obstinacy.
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