The Cowardly Lion goes back to the Wizard and tells him that his heart has run out of juice. He's no longer courageous. He's as shaky as a water nursed baby rabbit.
So the Wizard asks to take a look at him. The Lion agrees. So after a thorough inspection the Wizard says he has a solution, and he wants the Lion to hear a story. So the Wizard launches into a long-winded, boring story about ancient Knights and Damsels in distress, which nearly puts the Lion to sleep, but all the time he's maneuvering around towards the rear of the cat, and once there, he takes a big hammer and drives a long nail straight into the middle of the Lion's tail. Well, the Lion growls and stomps around and bares his teeth and flexes his claws and gives out a bone-shaking roar.
"What is heaven's name do you think you're doing you crazy old fart!" The Lion bellows furiously. "I should eat you on the spot!"
"You see, it worked!" says the Wizard triumphantly.
"Yeah, it did," says the Lion after he calmed down a bit. "What was the problem exactly?"
"Well, you had a leak out your backside and all your courage was running out behind you. So I hammered up the leak. Problem solved."
And so from that moment forward the Lion was so filled with courage that he did eat the Wizard, and lived happily ever after.
And that my friends, is the yarn of the Tale-Tail Heart.
Or, if you fancy it, the Tail of the Death Nail.
Or something like that...
boom-shakalaka-boom
it's-a-toofer