A lion was sleeping in his den one day, when a little mouse playing about him, fell on his nose. He awoke and caught the mouse, and was about eating it up, when it begged for its life and freedom. "Look," said the mouse, "how small I am, too poor a meal for you. It would be no honor for you to kill a mouse, and I might at sometime be of use to you, and do you good."
"What good can you do me? " said the lion haughtily. "But I grant you life and freedom, because it would be mean to kill you."
The mouse ran away, full of joy. Shortly the lion fell into the net of the hunter, and could not get out again. He roared so that the woods resounded. Then the grateful little monse came and gnawed diligently at the cords and ropes till it set the lion free.