a lion, tired with the chase, lay sleeping at full length under a shady

tree. some mice, scrambling over him while he slept, awoke him.

laying his paw upon one of them, he was about to crush him, but the

mouse implored his mercy in such moving terms that he let him go.

now it happened that sometime afterward the lion was caught in a net laid by some hunters, and, unable to free himself, made the forest resound with his roars. the mouse, recognizing the voice of his preserver, ran to the spot, and with his little sharp teeth gnawed the ropes asunder and set the lion free.