The Lion and the Mouse a personalized book with your child as the hero

On the edge of a sunny clearing, where the grass grew soft and the wildflowers nodded in the breeze, a young child sat quietly and watched. Nothing in the clearing seemed to mind. Bees hummed, a butterfly wobbled by, and in the middle of it all lay a great golden lion, fast asleep in the warm afternoon.

The child saw something small move in the grass. It was a little gray mouse, with a twitching nose and a tail like a thread. The mouse was in a great hurry to get somewhere, and it did not look where it was going. It scampered up a warm, rumbling hill, and the hill was the lion.

The lion woke with a snort. One enormous paw rose slowly into the air and came down over the mouse, trapping it gently against the ground. The child held very still, far away across the grass, and hardly breathed.

"Please, great lion," squeaked the mouse. "I did not mean to wake you. I was only hurrying home. If you let me go, I will never forget your kindness. Someday I will help you, I promise."

The lion's eyes crinkled, and a deep rumble of laughter rolled across the clearing. "You, help me? You are the smallest creature I have ever met. How could you possibly help a lion?"

"I do not know," said the mouse honestly. "But I would find a way."

The lion thought about this. A frightened little mouse would hardly make a meal, and it had spoken so politely. He lifted his paw and let the mouse go, unharmed from nose to tail. "Run along, little one," he said warmly.

The mouse bowed as low as a mouse can bow and dashed into the tall grass. The child waved, and the clearing went back to its humming and nodding.

Days went by, and the seasons turned a little. One morning the child wandered back to the clearing and heard a sad, heavy groan. Beneath a low branch hung a rope net that someone had left behind long ago, and in the net, wrapped loosely but firmly, was the lion. He was not hurt, but the more he tried to move, the tighter the ropes seemed to hold.

The child gasped. This was far too big a problem for a small helper to solve alone, and the child knew better than to go near. Instead the child stayed well back on the grass and called out as loudly as a voice could, "Mouse! Little mouse! Please come!"

In a moment a small gray shape came whisking through the grass. It was the mouse, with ears pricked and whiskers shaking. The child pointed with a steady finger toward the net, and the mouse understood at once.

"Do not be afraid, great lion," said the mouse, scrambling up the ropes. "I said I would find a way, and here it is."

The lion lay perfectly still, just as he had been asked. The mouse found the knot that held the whole net together and began to gnaw. Nibble, nibble, nibble went the tiny teeth. The sun climbed higher. The child sat on the grass at a safe distance and watched every careful little bite.

At last the knot gave way. The ropes loosened and slid apart, and the net opened like a flower. The lion stood up slowly, stretched his great legs, and stepped out into the sunshine, free.

The child hurried over to a flat stone nearby and set down a little bowl of cool water, then stepped back again. The lion drank deeply and lifted his head, and his golden eyes were shining.

"Little mouse," he said, "I laughed at you once. I will never laugh like that again. You were smaller than anyone, and yet you were the one who saved me."

The mouse sat up proudly on a rock, and the child clapped both hands in delight. The three of them stayed in the bright clearing all afternoon, a huge lion, a tiny mouse and a small child, and not one of them minded at all how different they were in size.

For kindness, however small, has a way of finding its path home again, and even the littlest friend can do the biggest thing.