The Lion and the Mouse, revised

I often wonder why certain images come to mind, but I found this little story that came to me interesting. It’s a conflation of Androcles and the Lion and Aesop’s The Lion and the Mouse, but with a different focus and moral to the story. 🙂

A beautiful, kingly lion is surveying his domain, majestically on patrol in his forest. A sudden stabbing pain hobbles him, and as he sits to consider, he sees a thorn embedded in his paw. He tries to remove it, but his efforts seem only to drive it deeper.

Trying to ignore the pain, he forwards on, in misery. In the shadows of the brush, he sees a tiny creature – a mouse in easy reach! As he starts to lunge, the tenderness in his paw arrests him, and the mouse, curiously, moves closer.

“I see you’re in pain, Your Majesty,” pipes the little mouse.

The lion thought to roar, but instead, chuckled. “You would be a tasty treat, little mouse, except for this thorn in my paw.”

“Let me remove it, sir, and I hope in return, you’ll let me return to my brood in peace,” replies the mouse.

The lion sighs and nods. The mouse carefully approaches, and works on the thorn, chewing and pulling until it’s finally clean out.

As he considers the situation – the great risk the mouse is taking by approaching and trusting his mighty beingness – a question burns in the lion. “Why are you taking such an unwarranted risk, little mouse? You didn’t know I couldn’t gobble you up before you uttered a word, you don’t know my hunger won’t win over my promise to leave you in peace.”

As the little mouse, now finished with the task at hand, backs away into the brush, she utters two words, “I serve,” and disappears.

The lion, deep in thought, resumes.

The idea of fearless and indiscriminate service is a profound one, isn’t it?