Androcles and the Lion

The sun beat down on the sand. There was no shade anywhere, no water, no sound but the wind.

Androcles stumbled on. His lips were cracked and his feet were bleeding. Behind him, far away now, was the house of the Roman governor in Africa, where he had been a slave. His master had been so harsh and cruel that Androcles had decided he would rather face the desert than stay another day.

But the desert was crueller than he had imagined. When he saw a dark opening in the rocks ahead, he crawled into it gratefully and lay down in the cool shadows.

A visitor at the cave

He had not been resting long when he heard a sound that turned his blood to ice.

A roar.

A huge lion was coming towards the cave. Androcles pressed himself against the rock and did not breathe. This, he was sure, was the lion's own home, and he was about to be eaten.

But the lion did not spring. It came limping into the cave on three legs, holding one front paw off the ground. It was not roaring in anger but moaning in pain.

The great beast looked at Androcles. Then, slowly, it came over and held out its paw to him, as if asking for help.

The thorn

Androcles was trembling. But he could see that the paw was badly swollen.

Very gently, he took it in his hands. Deep in the pad was a large splinter, like a thorn, and the wound around it was red and sore. Androcles drew the splinter out as carefully as he could. He squeezed the wound clean and wiped it dry.

The lion sighed. Then it lay down beside him, laid its paw in his hands, and fell asleep.

From that day, the two were friends. For three years, the tale says, Androcles lived in the cave with the lion. Each day the lion went out hunting and brought back the best of its meat for him. Androcles dried it in the sun and ate it, and at night the lion lay beside him to keep him company.

Captured

At last Androcles grew tired of the wild, lonely life. One day, while the lion was out hunting, he left the cave and set off to find people again.

It was a mistake. Within three days, soldiers caught him. A runaway slave in those times faced terrible punishment. Androcles was sent in chains across the sea to Rome, and back to his old master, who was there.

His master's sentence was harsh. Androcles was to be put in the great arena, the Circus Maximus, to face a wild beast in front of a crowd of thousands, with the emperor himself watching.

The arena

On the day of the games, the stands were packed. Androcles was pushed out alone onto the sand.

A gate opened at the far end. Out came a lion, huge and wild, newly captured from Africa, its mane thick and its roar louder than all the noise of the crowd.

It bounded across the arena towards him.

And then, close to him, it stopped.

The lion stood quite still, looking at him, as if it were remembering. Then it came forward gently, wagging its tail like a dog. It rubbed its great head against his legs. It licked his hands.

Androcles, who had shut his eyes and was waiting for the end, opened them. He looked into the lion's face. And he knew it.

It was his lion. The friend from the cave.

He threw his arms around its neck, and the crowd, who had come to see something cruel, saw a man and a lion embracing like old friends who had been parted for years.

Set free

The crowd roared with astonishment. The emperor sent for Androcles and asked him how such a thing was possible.

So Androcles told him the whole story: the desert, the cave, the swollen paw, the thorn, and the three years of friendship.

The story was written on a tablet and carried around the stands for everyone to read. The people shouted, all together, that Androcles should be pardoned and the lion given to him.

And so it was. Androcles was set free, and the lion was his.

Afterwards, it is said, Androcles could often be seen walking through the streets of Rome with the lion on a light leash. People threw flowers over the lion and gave money to the man. And as they passed, the Romans would say to each other: here is the lion who gave a man shelter, and here is the man who was a doctor to a lion.

About this tale

The oldest surviving version of this story comes from the Roman writer Aulus Gellius, in the second century CE. He said he was repeating the account of an earlier writer, Apion, who claimed to have seen it happen in Rome with his own eyes. Nobody knows if it is true. A shorter version is told among Aesop's fables, and the tale has been retold ever since. This version is a shortened, simplified retelling.