Monday, October 25, 2010

L'Estrange: A Lion and a Mouse.

A Lion that found himself hamper'd in a Net, call'd to a Mouse that was passing by, to help him out of the Snare, and he'd never forget the Kindness, he said. The Mouse gnaw'd the Threads to pieces, and when he had set the Lion at Liberty, desir'd him in requital to give him his Daughter. The Lion was too generous to deny him any thing; but most unluckily as the new Bride was just about to step into the Marriage-Bed, she happen'd to set her Foot upon her Husband at unawares, and crush'd him to Death.

The Folly of an Inconsiderate Love. The Force of Gratitude, and good Nature, and the Misery that accompanies Unequal Matches.


Source: L'Estrange 303.

Mus et Leo; Mus et Leaena

Click here for a SLIDESHOW of all the Crane images. I really like the way that Crane has combined here the traditional Aesopic fable of the lion and the mouse along with the variation (found first in Abstemius, I believe) where the mouse wants to marry the lioness!
M0209 Perry150

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