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The ambitious jackal Dimna, resentful that the bull Shanzabeh has become King Lion's trusted favorite, separately tells the lion that the bull is plotting to seize power and tells the bull that the lion plans to eat him. Each then reads the other's defensive posture as proof of the lie, and the lion kills the bull. The lion later sees his mistake, and Dimna is tried and executed for his deceit.
A king who acts on a courtier's report without checking it becomes the instrument of that courtier's ambition. Informers profit from the ruler's fear, so the ruler must weigh the accuser's motive and test the claim against the accused's past conduct before punishing anyone.
When two parties are each told the other is hostile, the precautions each takes look like aggression to the other. Those precautions then confirm the suspicion. The slanderer does not have to create real conflict. He only has to plant fear on both sides and let each side's defensive moves do the work.
In the ring-dove story, doves caught in a net escape by flying up together, and a mouse gnaws them free. A crow, a tortoise and a gazelle likewise rescue each other from hunters. Small creatures who coordinate and each contribute their particular skill overcome dangers that none of them could survive alone.