The Lion Who Trusted a Flattering Jackal

A jackal, cleverer than most in the lion king's court, discovered early that agreeing enthusiastically with every one of the king's ideas, however reckless, earned him steadily rising favor, while other advisors who offered honest caution were gradually pushed aside as tiresome.

Emboldened by success, the jackal praised the king's plan to attack a much larger neighboring pride's territory, calling it brilliant and certain to succeed, though he privately knew the odds were poor. Other, wiser advisors who tried to warn of the danger were dismissed as cowards by the flattered king, who trusted only the jackal's enthusiastic support.

The attack failed disastrously, the lion badly wounded and his pride's strength shattered for a generation. In the aftermath, the king, humiliated and finally questioning why his "wisest" advisor had never once warned him of the risk, banished the jackal from court entirely — understanding too late that an advisor who never disagrees is not loyal, only self-serving, and that true counsel sometimes requires the courage to say what a king does not wish to hear.