Once upon a time in a land far, far away in some savage place like South Africa (no one can be sure), where the king of the beasts ruled, a little mouse pitter-pattered through the forest. As the little mouse was dreamily walking along and thinking about the luxurious feast of cheese he would dine on with his fellow mice that day, he stumbled right over a sleeping lion. As he picked himself up, he said, “What a flea-brained thing to do! If the great lion wakes up and finds out what a scrape I’ve gotten myself into, I’ll be mincemeat for sure….Oh, no!” Just then a huge shadow loomed over him. He started to run blind with terror, and worse, he felt himself being pulled backwards. He flexed his claws and sank them into the ground. When he looked down at his paws, he saw his claws only digging up dirt and grass. “Oh, please, Your Majesty,” the mouse squeaked, “if you let me go, I might be able to help you in the future.” The lion roared with laughter, while the mouse sank back with fear and anxiety. The lion rolled over and said still chuckling, “My dear little one, you amuse me so much that I will let you go. If this ever happens again…well, I won’t get into details, but believe me, you will regret it!” While the mouse joyfully scampered off, the lion let out a huge yawn and went back to sleep. Then he was again rudely awakened. This time by hunters! Even though he writhed with anger and thrashed about, he could not escape from the net. The hunters staked it down, and the lion was trapped. Just then the mouse ran by and noticed the lion twisting and turning under the net. He scurried over to help the lion and started to gnaw off the ropes. Snap! Snap! Snap! One by one the ropes broke. Once the lion regained his freedom, he gleefully thanked the mouse and both ran off together.
The moral of the story is small friends can prove to be great friends.
