Aesop's tales #
21 - The Lion and the Mouse
A Lion lay
asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse
came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across
the Lion's nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the
tiny creature to kill her.
“Spare me!”
begged the poor Mouse. “Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you.”
The Lion was
much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and
finally let the Mouse go.
Some days
later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils
of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry
roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the
net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it
parted, and soon the Lion was free.
“You laughed
when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a Mouse
can help a Lion.”
Moral:
Never judge a book by its cover. No one is too weak to do good.
