The Friendly Lion and the Tiny Mouse

One sunny afternoon, deep in a forest where the trees grew tall and the grass was soft as a pillow, a great Lion lay down for a nap. His mane was golden, his paws were huge, and when he breathed slowly in and out, the whole meadow seemed to breathe with him.

Just as the Lion was drifting off to sleep, a tiny Mouse came scurrying through the grass. She was in such a hurry that she ran right up over the Lion's enormous paw and all the way to his nose before she noticed where she was.

The Lion opened one great golden eye.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" squeaked the Mouse, trembling like a little leaf. "Please don't be cross with me. I didn't see you there at all. If you let me go, I promise I'll help you one day — truly I will!"

The Lion looked down at the tiny Mouse for a long, quiet moment. Then he let out a deep, rumbling laugh. "You? Help me?" he said, in a voice like faraway thunder. "That is a very funny thought, little one." But he was in too good a mood to stay cross, and so he lifted his paw gently and let her scurry away.

The Mouse disappeared into the tall grass, and the Lion went back to sleep.

Some weeks later, the Lion was wandering through the forest when he stumbled into a net hidden among the fallen leaves. He pulled and he tugged and he shook his great mane, but the ropes held fast, and the more he struggled, the tighter they became.

He let out a long, unhappy roar.

Then he heard a familiar small voice calling through the trees. "I'm here! You helped me, and now I'm going to help you. I promised, remember?"

It was the tiny Mouse. She ran straight to the nearest rope and set to work with her sharp little teeth — gnawing through one strand, then another, then another, until the knots began to loosen and the net fell away. The Lion stepped free and shook himself with relief.

"I was wrong to laugh," he said quietly. "You are not small at all. You are one of the bravest friends I have ever had."

The Mouse sat up very straight and smiled her biggest smile.

And from that day forward, wherever the Lion walked, the tiny Mouse walked beside him, and everyone in the forest knew that the greatest friendships sometimes come in the tiniest packages.