Lion and Mouse

This retelling of the ancient Aesop’s fable includes several nuances beyond the common message of the original tale.

Aesop’s fable tells the story of a prideful lion who laughs at the thought that he would ever need the help of a tiny mouse. When the lion is later trapped in a net by hunters, the mouse gnaws through the ropes to free the lion.

In this retelling, author Jairo Buitrago (translation by Elisa Amado) adds an environmental message when the lion is caught in a net. “In those days, people were foolish and hunted lions.”
Humour also plays a big role in both the wording and the illustrations of the retelling of this story. When the mouse is caught by the lion, he begs not to be eaten because “I’m off to see my girlfriend”. The arrogant lion responds, “Someone as small and ugly as you couldn’t have a girlfriend”. When the lion is trapped, the mouse reappears, but the lion doesn’t recognize him “because all mice looked the alike to him”. By the end of the story, the lion takes a close-up look at the mouse and finally admits, “You know, seeing you so close up, friend mouse, you aren’t at all, not at all ugly”. The message about discrimination based on appearance will be easy to discuss with young children in the context of this story. Illustrator Rafael Yockteng shows the lion lying down getting a close look at the mouse. There is an entire mouse family playing all over the lion, some peeking out of its mane, others sliding down its tail and tucked between its paws. It seems our mouse did have a girlfriend, and the mouse family and lion now share a happy home.

This retelling of Aesop’s fable also expands on the original idea of a mouse repaying a favour, and clarifies the meaning of friendship.

One rainy day, the lion met the mouse again.
And with his immense paw, he protected him from the rain.
“Another favor?” the mouse said with annoyance.
“Now I’m going to have to do another favor for you, and you will do another for me, then I another, and you another and then I another and –”
“Enough!” said the lion. “I’m doing it because I don’t want you to get wet.”
And that is how they began to be good to each other.”

Illustrator Yockteng seems to include a reference to another Aesop fable, “Androcles and the Lion”, in an illustration where the mouse is pulling a thorn from the lion’s paw.

Yockteng’s illustrations are in tones of yellow, brown, green, blue, and grey. It seems unnatural to have a lion in a woods with a bear, fox, deer, and squirrel, but it is hard to quibble in a story about a talking lion and mouse becoming friends.

Author Buitrago begins the story with a less than engaging opening line that isn’t developed further in the story.

In the woods there lived a very lovely lion who was like a sun, and a small mouse who was a busybody and a glutton.

I would like to see the original Spanish text to see if this is a weakness of translation or of the original text.

Lion and Mouse, a story about an unlikely friendship, has its roots in ancient storytelling but is updated to reflect both a modern environmental sensitivity and a fuller understanding of friendship that may contribute to meaningful discussions with younger students.