The grateful mouse

A wee mouse was scampering along one day when, before he could stop himself, he ran over the face of a sleeping lion. The lion got a shock, and snatched the mouse up in one great paw. He was about to swallow it when the mouse squeaked :

"Please, Mr. Lion, know you're much, much bigger than me. But please don't eat me. Who knows, small though I am, I might be able to help you one day."

The lion thought this was so funny he let the mouse go. "After all," he said I've already had an antelope and two warthogs for supper this week, so I' am not hungry." A few days later, the lion wee mouse came scampering up.

"I heard you call," she said . " I'll soon get you out of there." All through the night she chewed through the ropes, one by one, until the lion was free. And ever after, the mouse lived safe and warm in the lion's den.