Week 1 - Storytelling: A Lion's Lesson Learned

I was lying on the forest floor one afternoon, resting in the shade to hide from the heat of the day.  As I lay here, napping, I can hear everything.  I can hear the birds making their nests in the trees above me.  I can hear tiny critters scurrying across the leaves of the forest floor and under the bushes.  Just as I begin to doze off, I feel a light tickling on the top of my nose.  My instincts take over and I reach my paw out to capture whatever it is that has awakened me from my slumber.  As I lift my paw, I see a tiny little grey mouse.  Now, surely a mouse would know better than to run across the nose of a lion, sleeping or not.  So I ask the mouse, “have you lost your mind?  You surely have made your final, and fatal, mistake my friend.”  To which this tiny creature replied, “Please, Mr. Lion.  I’m so sorry for waking you!  I was startled by something in the forest and was trying to escape.  I did not realize you were here until it was too late.  It appears I escaped one dangerous situation only to land in another.”  As he speaks, I feel a small twinge of pity for this tiny and quite unlucky creature.  But, how can I ignore a snack that wonders so willingly within my grasp?  The mouse continues, “Please, Mr. Lion, spare me!  If you spare my life I promise to repay you some way, some how, some day!”  I found this quite amusing, not that she begged for her life, but the fact that she believed something as small could help a lion.  However, I felt the need to release her, besides such a small mouse would provide me with no real hunger satiation.  I released her and she scurried off across the forest floor. 

Many days later I found myself in quite the predicament.  I had been stalking a deer.  I crouched behind some tall grass and began to ease slowly forward toward my meal.  Just as I took my second step, I heard a loud click.  I turned just in time to see the large net engulf me completely.  I looked around frantically expecting to see some human coming at me with a spear to kill me, but saw nothing.  I began to attempt to free myself from the ropes, but to no avail.  They were so tight and held strongly to the ground.  There was nothing I could do.  I was trapped.  In my fear and anger, I began to roar loudly.  The animals scurried away, the birds left the trees, and I was utterly alone.  Just then, I heard the small scurry of a tiny creature on the forest floor, and it appeared to be getting louder.  Was it coming closer to me?  Just then, I saw her.  It was the mouse I had released only days earlier.  She ran over to me and just looked at me.  Finally, she spoke.  “I told you I would repay you one day and you just laughed at me.  Now you see that even a small mouse can help the powerful lion.”  She gnawed at the ropes and I was freed.  The mouse then scurried off into the forest.  I stood up and stretched my body and pondered the fact that, had I killed that tiny mouse days ago there’s no telling what could have happened to me!  I thought quite differently about my place in this forest from then on.

Aesop's "The Lion and the Mouse"

Author's Note:

This is Aesop's The Lion and the Mouse.  The mouse runs across the lion's nose while he's napping. The lion catches him and prepares to eat the mouse.  The mouse then begs the lion to release him, promising to repay the kindness one day.  Aesop's moral to this story is that "kindness is never wasted."

Bibliography:
The Lion and the Mouse (bronze statue by Tom Otterness) (Beelden aan Zee museum, Scheveningen).  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/nxrbqmt 

The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop (2006).  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/qfq6bbb