The Lion and the Mouse

This is a traditional folk tale. In my opinion, this story presents a harmful stereotype for children. This story is talking about a lion and a mouse. Long time ago, a lion in the jungle was angry because of the mouse's disturbing. The lion caught the mouse and wanted to eat him. The mouse pleased the lion and the lion let him go. One day, a hunter caught the lion when he was searching for food. The lion roared for help. When the mouse heard the lion's roar, he ran to the lion, and helped the lion. Finally, the lion escaped because of the mouse so he thanked the mouse. In this story, the lion is a bad model for young children. First, the lion is wild and fearsome. He awakes with a loud roar, and down came his paw to the mouse when the mouse ran over his head and down his nose. Second, the lion is over confident and looks down to the mouse by saying that "How could a tiny creature like you ever do anything to help me?" Third, even though the lion is strong, he is stupid because he roared and thrashed about trying to free himself but with every move he made, the ropes bound him tighter. Some people might think the lion is strong, and powerful, and doesn't need help from the weak, but I don't think so, because the lion in the story became weak and useless when he fell into the trap, and he needs help from the mouse to escape from the trap. I believe this story shows young children that even though they are strong and powerful, sometimes they need the help of the weak. In addition, although some people are weak, they will able to help the strong people.

-Richard, Malaysia-AE2, CESL Today v56, 2005