A mouse ran across a sleeping lion and woke him. The lion caught the mouse and prepared to eat him. The mouse begged for mercy and promised that one day he would repay the favor. The lion laughed at the idea that such a small creature could help him, but let him go.
Later, hunters trapped the lion and tied him to a tree. Hearing his groans, the mouse came and gnawed through the rope until the lion was free.
The lion had treated mercy as a gift flowing downward from strength. Fortune turned it into a debt only the weak could repay.
Source: Aesop, “The Lion and the Mouse Who Returned a Kindness,” The Complete Fables, fable 206, PDF pp. 188-189. Retold.
What it argues
Power is situational, and no one is too small to become indispensable. Mercy preserves possibilities that pride cannot see.
Use it for: reciprocity, coalition-building, humility, and mercy.