Literary Analysis: Exploring 'The Lion and the Mouse'

Literary Analysis: Exploring 'The Lion and the Mouse'

Read the fable 'The Lion and the Mouse' carefully, then answer the questions that follow. Use complete sentences and provide evidence from the text to support your answers.

The Lion and the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A tiny Mouse, running over him in her fright, woke him up. The Lion placed his huge paw angrily on the little Mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow her. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little Mouse, “forgive me this time. I shall never forget your kindness. Who knows but I may be able to do you a good turn some of these days?” The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted his paw and let her go. Some days later, the Lion was caught in a hunter’s net. He struggled and roared, but the ropes were too strong. The little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the Lion’s plight, she ran up to him and gnawed away the ropes with her sharp little teeth, until the Lion was free. “You laughed when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a small Mouse can help a great Lion.”

1. What is the main conflict in the story?

2. What character trait best describes the Mouse when she encounters the trapped Lion?

3. Explain how the Lion's initial action towards the Mouse contrasts with the Mouse's later action towards the Lion. What does this contrast reveal about their characters?

4. The moral, or theme, of 'The Lion and the Mouse' is that  .

5. A fable is a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a  .

6. The Lion initially believes the Mouse could never be of help to him.