The Lion King's Foolish Judgment

A young lion king, eager to establish a reputation for swift, decisive justice, made a habit of punishing whoever was accused first in any dispute brought before him, believing that quick judgment showed strength and confidence in ruling.

A jackal, wanting a rival removed from a favorable hunting ground, brought a false accusation of theft against him, and the lion, true to his habit, punished the innocent rival immediately without ever hearing his defense or seeking any evidence at all.

Word spread quickly through the kingdom of how easily the king could be manipulated by whoever spoke first, and soon false accusations flooded his court from every ambitious animal seeking to eliminate a rival or seize an advantage, since punishment was guaranteed the moment a claim was made. The kingdom fell into genuine chaos and mistrust, animals turning on each other through the courts rather than through honest dealing, until the lion's own wise mother finally intervened and taught him the most basic principle of justice he had somehow never learned: that a claim heard alone, without the accused's own side, is not evidence at all — merely one voice, possibly a lying one.