The lion and the four oxen.

Aesop's fable

Four oxen, which always grazed together in a meadow, swore eternal friendship; when the lion attacked them, they defended themselves so well that none of them died.

The lion understood that he could not fight when they were united, so he plotted an intrigue, telling each one in private that the others annoyed him and spoke ill of him. In this way he managed to instill suspicion among the oxen in such a way that they finally broke the alliance and parted. Then the lion ate them one by one, and the last ox, when he died, exclaimed:

— “We who are to blame for our death, for we believed the lion's bad advice, and parted. So it was easy for him to devour us.”

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