Read the following excerpt from one of Aesop's Fables, in which a lion catches a mouse. What purpose could this story have served in classical
Greek culture?
"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and
some day I will surely repay you." The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.
Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion
struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that
bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.
"You laughed when I said I would repay you, said the
Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion.
