Once a lion roaming through the forest trod on a thorn and it stuck in
his foot. In great pain he limped out to a shepherd and looked up at him
beseechingly. The shepherd gently drew out the thorn. The lion fawned
upon him and licked his hand to thank him.
Not long after the shepherd was blamed for a wrong he had not done. The
king said he must die. “Throw him to the lions and let him be torn to
pieces,” commanded the king.
The king’s officers seized the poor shepherd and threw him into the
arena, before the lion’s cage. Out stalked a lion. It was the very one
the shepherd had helped. And lo! instead of tearing the shepherd to
pieces the noble beast fawned upon him and licked his hand.
The king was amazed. He ordered the shepherd to tell him what it all
meant. When he heard he let the shepherd go back to his sheep and the
lion back to the free forest.