he came upon a lion lying down moaning and groaning.
At first he turned to flee,
but finding that the lion did not pursue him,
he turned back and went up to him.
As he come near,
the lion put out his paw,
which was all swollen and bleeding
and found that a huge thorn had got into it,
and was causing all the pain.
He pulled out the torn
and bound up the paw of the lion,
who was soon able to rise
and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.
Then the lion took Androcles to his cave,
and every day used to bring him meat from which to live
But shortly afterwards
both Androcles and the lion were captured.
and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the lion,
after the latter had been kept without food for several days.