“Go away!” said Lion. Lion was not happy about being stuck and knew that if he could not break the net, then there was no possible way that a tiny mouse could instead! He knew that there would be no point in trying for the little mouse, for the mouse would never be able to do it anyway! He did not want to get his hopes up, so he tried to push Mouse away. But, he was so tangled up that he could not push away Mouse. He could barely move.
But, Mouse did not want to go away. Mouse wanted to do what he promised, so he walked right over to Lion and began to chew on the net. “Sit still!” he told Lion as he held up the net to his mouth and chewed on it. He was able to chew right through most of it very easily because it fit into his mouth. It was not hard to chew through it all when he could pick it all up! So, he chewed and he chewed. He chewed and chewed some more, until finally, a little piece fell down.
Lion, seeing that this was working, stopped moving so much. He stopped and he waited and he sat as still as he could while the mouse chewed through everything. It took all night, and some of the morning, too, but mouse kept on chewing until he had chewed free the lion.
When the net came loose and fell off. Lion stood up and stretched. He had been stuck like that all night and his body hurt! But, he looked down at the little mouse and realized something. Even though the mouse was so tiny, even he could be very helpful and very useful when it was time to help someone. Even he could really help Lion get out of a trap. Lion could not get through the net, but the mouse could, even if it took a very, very long time to do it. And for that, Lion was very grateful. He grinned down at Mouse.
“It seems the tables have turned,” said Lion as he stretched and bowed to the mouse. “And you have saved me this time, instead. I must say, I did not think that you could do it, but you did!” Lion was very, very surprised that Mouse could do something that he could not. Though Lion could not break the net with his strength, it was Mouse’s small size that allowed him to chew it up and break free.
And just then, the hunters that must have trapped Lion came running to check their net. They saw that Lion was not in the net and they looked very afraid, but Lion did not want to fight anyone. Instead, he picked up Mouse and stuck him atop Lion’s head. “I’ll take you home,” said Lion. “You deserve a break after all that chewing!”
Mouse smiled and got comfortable in Lion’s mane. It did not take long for Mouse to fall asleep, but from then on, Lion and Mouse lived together in that cave and they became very good friends that always helped each other, for no matter how big or how small you are, you can still help someone else, and Lion learned that lesson on that very day. Lion learned that he could rely on other people, even if they were smaller, and Mouse learned that he could make a very, very big difference if he wanted to, even if it was only little by little. They both knew that they could count on each other!
