“Androcles and the Lion” is Aesop’s beloved fable in which a man forges an unlikely alliance with a lion, a friendship that in turn produces another unexpected result. Androcles is a mistreated Christian slave in Rome. With hopes of eluding his cruel master, the slave becomes a fugitive. In his flight from captivity, Androcles loses his way in the forest.
While trying to find a path to liberty, he encounters a lion. Although his first impulse is to retreat from the beast,somehow Androcles manages to discern that the lion is too sorely distressed to pose an immediate danger to him. After assessing the lion’s wound, he manages to relieve the creature from pain by removing a thorn buried in its paw.
The lion,