Lion roared and roared as he tried to get out. He shook himself, but nothing happened. He tried to run away, but nothing happened. He tried to chew through the net, but again, nothing happened. Angry and stuck, Lion roared again.

But this time, Mouse happened to be nearby. He heard the roar and thought of the Lion that had let him go, not too long ago. “I wonder if that’s Lion…” he wondered out loud. He started to walk away, but then he remembered his promise. “Maybe I should go see if he’s okay,” said Mouse to himself, so off he went.

It did not take very long to find Lion—he was very busy making very big, loud roars that were so frightening that no one wanted to get near him. But, Mouse recognized the little white spot on one of his paws—the very paw that had held him up to eat him—and he knew that it was the same lion.

Mouse did not hesitate at all. He went right up to Lion. “Excuse me!” he squeaked, but Lion did not hear him. Lion was too busy rolling around and trying to get out of the net, but as he tried to get out, he only made himself more and more tangled up, unable to escape.

“EXCUSE ME!” Mouse yelled as loudly as he could, and that seemed to be enough. Lion stopped roaring and fighting the net and turned to look at him. Lion looked very annoyed.

“What are you doing here?” asked Lion. “Go away!” he was very angry and growled at Mouse.

“I think I can help,” said Mouse. He looked at the net. It would take a very, very long time, but Mouse was pretty sure he could chew it up and let Lion out. After all, he owed Lion a debt, and he always repaid his debts.

“Go away!” said Lion. Lion was not happy about being stuck and knew that if he could not break the net, then there was no possible way that a tiny mouse could instead! He knew that there would be no point in trying for the little mouse, for the mouse would never be able to do it anyway! He did not want to get his hopes up, so he tried to push Mouse away. But, he was so tangled up that he could not push away Mouse. He could barely move.

But, Mouse did not want to go away. Mouse wanted to do what he promised, so he walked right over to Lion and began to chew on the net. “Sit still!” he told Lion as he held up the net to his mouth and chewed on it. He was able to chew right through most of it very easily because it fit into his mouth. It was not hard to chew through it all when he could pick it all up! So, he chewed and he chewed. He chewed and chewed some more, until finally, a little piece fell down.

Lion, seeing that this was working, stopped moving so much. He stopped and he waited and he sat as still as he could while the mouse chewed through everything. It took all night, and some of the morning, too, but mouse kept on chewing until he had chewed free the lion.

When the net came loose and fell off. Lion stood up and stretched. He had been stuck like that all night and his body hurt! But, he looked down at the little mouse and realized something. Even though the mouse was so tiny, even he could be very helpful and very useful when it was time to help someone. Even he could really help Lion get out of a trap. Lion could not get through the net, but the mouse could, even if it took a very, very long time to do it. And for that, Lion was very grateful. He grinned down at Mouse.

“It seems the tables have turned,” said Lion as he stretched and bowed to the mouse. “And you have saved me this time, instead. I must say, I did not think that you could do it, but you did!” Lion was very, very surprised that Mouse could do something that he could not. Though Lion could not break the net with his strength, it was Mouse’s small size that allowed him to chew it up and break free.