Oban's Myths & Legends
Ancrocles and the Lion (continued)
Aesop fable
retold by Oban
Suddenly Androcles was surrounded by soldiers who took him prisoner and dragged him back to town, where his cruel master was waiting for him with the law makers.
They sentenced him to death for escaping. He was to be fed to a lion in the arena in front of the Emperor and a big crowd. They threw him into a prison cell and kept him there for a week, with only bread and water brought to him by the guard.
Several times each day he heard a loud “RrrrooooaaarR” close by. “Hear that lion!” the guard said. “We are starving him so he will be good and hungry when you face him in the arena.”
Finally the day came and he was lead into the arena with only a small spear to protect himself from the hungry lion.
The Emperor gave the signal for the lion’s cage door to be opened.
The huge lion roared and rushed out of its cage “RrrroooaarR”
The crowd roared loudly “Eat him! Eat him!”
“Aaaaahhh” screamed Androcles as the lion leapt on him, knocking him to the ground.
But to everyone’s surprise, instead of eating him, the lion licked Androcles’s face again and again with his large tongue.
“Wow!” said Androcles excitedly. “You’re my friend the lion from the forest.” The lion just purred and nuzzled Androcles with his face.
“Bring the slave to me!” demanded the Emperor. “I must know why the lion did not eat him.”
Androcles explained everything to the Emperor, why he had escaped from his master, how he had met the lion in the jungle and how he had pulled the thorn from its paw.
“I think the lion wanted to show he was grateful for the kindness I showed him”, said Androcles.
The Emperor pardoned Androcles and told everyone he was no longer a slave
“You are now a free man and free to go wherever you want.”
The lion was let loose in the forest to once again roam free.
The End
What is the moral of this story?
One good deed leads to another.
Being grateful is a sign of goodness (Gratitude is the sign of noble souls).
