Once upon a time, in a distant jungle, lived a lion. All proud and brave, he was a true king of the jungle. He had his own lioness and kept the whole pack together. He was highly esteemed. Powerful and strong. One day he had his first son. A little lion. He was really cute. Lively, handsome, and painfully curious. As soon as he was old enough, his father took him hunting with him. He taught him everything he knew. He passed on his wisdom to him.
One evening, the little lion, hardened, set out on his first solo walk. He had a great desire to prove to his father that he had learned everything he needed to. That he was big enough to hunt alone. And as determined as was, he ran through the field, when he heard strange sounds. Frightened, he started to turn around and at one point he noticed a pack of hyenas. Seeing that the little lion was alone, the hyenas set off in pursuit of him. For them, it was a wonderful snack. The little lion started running back to his father with all his might. He made sounds but it wasn't a roar. He was still small, though. As he approached his home, the hyenas drew closer to him and just when he thought he was safe, one hyena jumped him.
The little lion fought with all his might, but he was too weak. Too small. The hyena injured his head, cut his eye, and just as he was about to give him one last blow, a large lion appeared and scattered them all. Although very angry at his son, the big lion was too worried about him for that anger to last. The little lion was badly injured. The mother lioness tried in every way to heal him. In the end, the little lion recovered, but not without consequences. He lost one eye, and due to a major head injury, it was likely that his real lion mane would not grow.
The lioness, crushed by pain and sorrow, talked to the lion. How will their son ever become the king of the jungle? How will other animals respect him if he didn't even look like a lion anymore. He was more like a freak.
Thoughtful, the lion was deep in thought for a while, then sighed deeply and said to the lioness, "No. He will be the real king of the jungle. All animals will respect him. From now on, I will forbid the whole pack to pity him and look at him as a parable. From now on, you will treat him like the strongest, brightest lion. He will have his power if he believes in it strongly enough. He will be strong, wise and respected if he believes in it himself. I order you to act accordingly. "
As the years passed, the little lion grew. And he was as his father had anticipated. Big, powerful, wise, strong, and respected by all animals. Not because he looked like that, but because he believed in it.