The Lion and the Mouse

vivianimbriotis | April 22, 2022, 1:55 p.m.

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

“Pardon me, Lion,” cried the little Mouse, “forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: and I may be able to do you a favor in the future.” 

The Lion was so taken at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he let him go.

The next day, the lion left to hunt. Prowling through the jungle, the Lion's paw caught a rope and a net fell down upon him.

"I am trapped!" cried the Lion. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the Lion's plight, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound him. 

“Was I not right?” said the Mouse.

--

"I am trapped!" cried the Lion. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the Lion's plight, went up to him stared into his eyes. 

“What right have you, to assume power over life and death?” asked the Mouse, before stalking off into the jungle. The hunters took the Lion's pelt.

--

"I am trapped!" cried the Lion. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the Lion's plight, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound him. 

“Thank you for your service,” murmured the Lion, and promptly swallowed the Mouse.

--

"I am trapped!" cried the Lion. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the Lion's plight, went up to him and bit him on the leg.

“As you inflicted pain on me,” spat the Mouse, "so shall I return it upon you sevenfold."

--

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

“Pardon me, Lion,” cried the little Mouse, “forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: and I may be able to do you a favor in the future.” 

The Lion pondered this. "But why would you be grateful, when I have spared you only from myself? Surely you will hate me regardless, seek to harm me, or at best to forget me." And so the Lion ate the Mouse.

--

"Surely you will hate me regardless, seek to harm me, or at best to forget me."

"Certainly," said the mouse, "had I the power to constrain my future actions to assure you of my servitude, I would do so."

"But you have so such power," said the Lion, and ate the Mouse.

--

 "Surely you will hate me regardless."

"I could not hate you for your nature," said the mouse. "To let me live would violate the dictates of your personhood; to let me go would require you change who you are."

 "But I do not wish to change," said the Lion, and ate the Mouse.

--

"To let me live would violate the dictates of your personhood; to let me go would require you change who you are."

 "And who might I be, if I changed? Would I be alike a mouse?"

"You would be a kinder dictator, but still a dictator."

"And you should hate me still, I suppose," yawned the Lion, and ate the Mouse.

--

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and crushed him into a smear.

"Oops."

--

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

“If you kill me,” cried the little Mouse, “It will stain you. I have no power here. There is nothing I can do or promise you. So what happens next depends only on who you are.” 

The Lion ate the mouse.

--

The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

“I see,” exhaled the little Mouse. “Nothing for it, then.” 

"Nothing for it", agreed the Lion. "I must eat."

--

The Lion, all at once awakened, watched the little mouse scamper back and forward, remaining himself unmoving. 

"Such fear I have inspired," he rumbled, satisfied.

--

"Such fear I have inspired," he rumbled, devastated.

--

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

“Have we not done this dance enough?" asked the Mouse. "I am not even a snack to you. I can hardly harm you. And the net is out there, awaiting you. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by gambling on the workings of my psyche."

"It is my Nature," said the Lion.

"That is a different fable," said the Mouse.

-- 

The Lion lay sleeping in his cave, rumbling snores emerging from his nostrils. The Mouse, temped by a morsel, skittered past him. The Lion, all at once awakened, placed his huge paw upon the Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. Then paused.

"Will you not beg me? Promise me your aid?"

"I shall not demean myself," the mouse murmured.

"Suit yourself," said the Lion, and ate the Mouse.