The Moral Vision
Talking Tall
~ 126 ~
TALKING TALL
A group of sightseers around Delhi zoo in the
winter of 1985, looked at various animals in turn
then paused in admiration before a great rarity—a
solitary white lion which was pacing up and down
outside its den.
“This is the only white lion left in the whole world!”
exclaimed a member of the group. “You see, the
Maharajah of Rewa owned two white lions, both of
which he handed over to the Indian government
after independence. One of them died, and we are
now looking at the one which was left—the sole
survivor of its species!”
If this gentleman had cared to walk a little further,
he would have seen a board attached to the white
lion’s cage on which the zoo authorities had given
detailed information, namely, that 69 white lions
still exist in the world today, 25 of which are to be
found in India alone. Yet just a few yards away
there was a gentleman who claimed that there was
just one white lion left in the whole world, and that
was the one in the Delhi zoo.
