The Lion and the Thorn

Fables by Aesop

A LION roaming through the forest, got a thorn in his foot, and, meeting a Shepherd, asked him to remove it. The Shepherd did so, and the Lion, having just surfeited himself on another shepherd, went away without harming him. Some time afterward the Shepherd was condemned on a false accusation to be cast to the lions in the amphitheatre. When they were about to devour him, one of them said:

"This is the man who removed the thorn from my foot."

Hearing this, the others honourably abstained, and the claimant ate the Shepherd all himself.


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