THE LION. 49

through the bars, he saw the lion and the keeper lying side
by side, and immediately uttered a loud cry. The lion
started up and stared at the carpenter with an eye of fury, and
then, placing his paw on the breast of his keeper, lay down
to sleep again. The carpenter, terrified at what he saw, ran
off to secure help, whereupon some of the attendants suc-
ceeded in arousing the keeper who, far from being disconcerted
by the circumstances, took the paw of the lion and shook
it gently in token of regard and the animal quietly returned
with him to his former residence. M. Felix, the keeper of
the animals at Paris, had charge of a lion which refused
food, and became sullen and mopish during the temporary
absence of M. Felix through illness, but who regained his
spirits and showed every demonstration of joy upon the
reappearance of M. Felix at his post of duty.
The Story of With so many authentic instances which can
Androcles. be cited of the amenability of the lion to kindly
influences, the story of Androcles and the lion does not seem so
improbable as it has been sometimes thought. The following
is the story :—In the days of ancient Rome, a Roman governor
treated one of his slaves or subjects, called Androcles, so
cruelly that he ran away. To escape pursuit he fled to a
desert and crept into a cave. What was his horror to find
that this cave was a lion’s den, and to see a large lion
approach him! He expected instantly to be destroyed; but
the lion, approaching Androcles, held up his paw or foot
with a supplicating air. Androcles examined the lion’s paw,
and found a thorn in it which he drew out, and the lion,
apparently relieved, fawned upon his benefactor as a dog
does upon his master. After some time Androcles ventured
back to the place where he lived before. He was discovered,
taken up as a runaway slave, and condemned to be the prey
of a wild beast. He was accordingly thrown into a place
where a large lion, recently caught, was let in upon him.
The lion came bounding toward Androcles, and the spec-

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