The Lion and the Mouse, The Gnat and the Lion, and The Lion and the Statue

The Lion and the Mouse

Once when a lion was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon wakened the lion, who placed his huge paw upon him and opened his big jaws to swallow him. "Pardon, O King," cried the little mouse: "Forgive me this time, and I shall never forget it. Who knows but what I may be able to do you a favor one day?" The lion was so amused at the idea of the mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go. Some time later the lion was caught in a trap; and the hunters, who desired to carry him alive to the king, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon on which to carry him. Just then the little mouse happened to pass by and, seeing the sad plight of the lion, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the king of the beasts. "Was I not right?" asked the little mouse.

Little friends may prove to be great friends.

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The Gnat and the Lion

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A gnat came and said to a lion, "I do not in the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am. For in what does your strength consist? You can scratch with your claws and bite with your teeth

like a woman. I repeat that I am altogether more powerful than you; and if you doubt it, let us fight and see who will conquer." The gnat, having sounded his horn, fastened himself upon the lion and stung him on the nostrils and the parts of the face without hair. While trying to crush him, the lion tore himself with his claws until he punished himself severely. The gnat thus prevailed over the lion and, buzzing about in a song of triumph, flew away. But shortly afterwards he became entangled in the meshes of a cobweb and was eaten by a spider. He greatly lamented his fate, saying, "Woe is me! That I, who can wage war successfully with the hugest beasts, should perish myself from this spider, the most inconsiderable of insects!"

Little things may cause one's downfall.

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The Lion and the Statue

A man and a lion were discussing the relative strength of men and lions in general. The man contended that he and his fellows were stronger than lions by reason of their greater intelligence.

"Come now with me," he cried, "and I will soon prove that I am right." So he took him into the public gardens and showed him a statue of Hercules overcoming the lion and tearing his mouth in two. "That is all very well," said the lion, "but proves nothing, for it was a man who made the statue."

We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.

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