Easy Stories in English

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The Lion and the Mouse

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Transcript

Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great.

I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show. Today’s story is for beginners. The name of the story is The Lion and the Mouse. You can find a transcript of the episode at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Lion. That’s EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Lion. This contains the full story, as well as my conversation before it.

So today we have another famous Aesop’s Fable, or “Aysop’s Fable”—I’m not actually sure which is correct. This one has a lion in it, and lions are my favourite animal. I am what you might call a “child at heart”. I have lots of stuffed animals.

“Stuffed animal” is the word we use in the United Kingdom for toys that children have. You know, when they’re animals that aren’t real, obviously, they’re like teddy bears. I think in America they call them “plushes”. So I have lots of stuffed lions.

Of course, because I love lions, I also love the Disney film The Lion King. I actually know a fun fact about it. Did you know that it’s the only Disney film that’s been dubbed into an African language?

When I say “dubbed”, I mean when people record the voices to go over a film.

So the African language that The Lion King was dubbed into was Zulu. And this is a bit of how that sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgOuVj1wO14

I think it’s fantastic that they did this. I’m a big language nerd. I actually rewatched the whole film dubbed in Zulu even though I don’t understand Zulu.

Currently, they’re remaking The Lion King. They keep saying that they’re making a “live-action version of The Lion King”. So, live-action is where you use real, human actors, as opposed to animation. But that doesn’t make any sense, because all of the characters are animals. So I think what they mean is that they’re going to record real actors and use technology to put their faces on CGI animals. So, 3D animation. It sounds like it could be great, but it will probably be horrifying, very very scary looking.

But Beyoncé is going to play Nala the lion. So whatever we get, we will get fabulous singing from Beyoncé, that we know for sure.

We got the first comment on our blog the other day from Serdar Güngör. Serdar, I hope I pronounced that correctly. Serdar asked if we could put up more beginner stories. So, here they are! I’m trying to keep the majority of stories beginner stories. So Serdar, hopefully this will be good for you, but do let me know if you want even more beginner stories.

I would really love to hear what you think about the show and if you have any suggestions. So do go and leave a comment, like Serdar. Go to EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Lion and type in a comment. And also remember there you can read the whole transcript for the episode, so the entire episode in text format.

Before the story I will just explain one word. That word is “trap”. A trap is something that you lay on the ground to catch an animal. The most common type of trap is a mouse trap. So a mouse trap is a small, wooden device that you put on the floor. You put a piece of cheese on it. Then the mouse comes and sees the piece of cheese and when the mouse tries to eat the cheese they are caught in the trap, and they usually die.

Of course, people can also get caught in traps. Companies often lay traps for people. These traps are fast food, alcohol, cigarettes, and so on. So hopefully you haven’t been caught in any traps recently! Hopefully nobody’s laid a trap for you.

Listen and enjoy!

The Lion and the Mouse

In the Great Forest there was a small mouse called Gentle. Gentle was a very sad mouse. He lived alone in a tree. All the other animals in the forest hated him. They said that he was weak and silly. All he wanted was a friend.

One day, Gentle was walking through the forest and talking to himself.

‘Who will be friends with a mouse like me? I am not smart like the other mice. I am not funny like the foxes. I am not quick like the birds. And I am not strong like the lion.’

There was one lion who lived in the Great Forest. The lion was called Crush. Everyone was scared of Crush the lion.

Gentle looked up. Of all animals to meet, he saw Crush was in front of him. He was lying a few metres ahead. But the lion was sleeping.

Gentle should have run away. Crush the lion was very strong, and very dangerous. But Gentle wanted to stop being so weak. None of the other mice went near Crush. If he went near him, he could tell the other mice. They would think he was strong. They would want to be his friend!

Carefully, Gentle climbed onto Crush and looked at him. He had big, round ears. He had lots of hair, and a big tail. Gentle thought that the lion looked amazing. He climbed onto his back, and then his tail, because he wanted to look at the tail more.

But then Crush woke up!

‘Aha, there is a mouse on my back!’

He took Gentle in his hand. Crush had caught Gentle, and Gentle could not leave. Crush looked very hungry.

‘Please don’t eat me!’ said Gentle. ‘I am only a small, silly mouse.’

‘You are very silly indeed! You walked onto me, the great lion of the forest. Usually I have to catch my own lunch! But today, my lunch comes walking up to me. Yum yum!’

Gentle didn’t know what to do. The lion looked so hungry. If he was a smarter mouse, he would tell him jokes. If Crush thought he was funny, maybe he would let him live.

But Gentle wasn’t funny. He could not think of one single joke.

But maybe there was another way…

‘If you let me live, I will help you in the future.’

Crush laughed. ‘You are so small and weak!’ he said. ‘How could you help me?’

‘I will! Believe me. One day you will need my help.’

Crush laughed and laughed and laughed. He laughed so much that he had to hold his stomach. Gentle jumped out of his hand and ran away. He ran until he was far, far away from the lion.

Gentle was very lucky to escape Crush. He told the other mice what happened. He thought they might think he was strong now, or clever. But the other mice didn’t believe him. They said he made the story up. Gentle was still sad, and he still had no friends.

A few days later, two men came into the forest. They wanted to catch a lion. So they put up a trap. The trap was made of some ropes. When the lion walked into the rope trap, he would be caught.

And that is what happened. Crush walked into the ropes, and was caught. He couldn’t move.

The lion shouted and cried. ‘Help! Help!’ he shouted. But nobody came to help him.

Gentle was sleeping at the time. He woke up from his sleep and heard the lion shouting. He went and saw Crush caught in the ropes.

‘Oh no, it is you!’ said Crush. ‘I need help. You won’t be able to help me. You are just a weak mouse!’

Gentle thought for a while. He should run away. He knew that it was dangerous to go near Crush. And Crush was saying unkind things about him. But he had escaped last time, hadn’t he? He would show the lion that he was a clever mouse.

Gentle climbed onto the ropes. There was one big rope. He started to bite it.

‘What are you doing?’ said Crush.

Gentle continued biting the rope. Finally, the rope broke. Crush was able to move out of the trap. He was free!

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Crush. ‘You did help me. You are small, and you are certainly not strong. But you are smart.’

‘I am not!’ said Gentle. ‘All the other mice say I’m silly. The foxes laugh at me, and the birds fly away when I come near.’

‘You are smart. But you are smart in a different way to them. You saved my life. What can I give you?’

‘You don’t have to give me anything,’ said Gentle. Then he thought. ‘Well, maybe there is one thing…’

‘What is it?’ said Crush. ‘I can cut off some of my hair, because you like it so much. I can kill your enemies for you. I can tell the other mice that you are smart and strong and funny. If they laugh at you, I will eat them.’

‘No, no. I don’t want any of that.’

‘What do you want? What shall I do?’

‘Will you be my friend?’

THE END

I hope you enjoyed the story. You can support the podcast by leaving a review on iTunes. Search for Easy Stories in English, give us a star rating, and say what you like about the show. It would really help us grow. Thank you for listening, and until next week.

Comments

41 responses to “The Lion and the Mouse”

  1. Sandoval Danilo avatar
    Sandoval Danilo

    Great job Ariel!!!
    I really enjoy listenning to postcast about fiction stories.
    I’m Colombian, someday I’d like to heard some postcast about Asimov Isaac.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the lovely comment, Sandoval! I’ll write down to do some Asimov stories 🙂

  2. Esra Özdemir avatar
    Esra Özdemir

    Thank you for this story, I will listen the other stories:)

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      You’re welcome, Esra. Happy listening 🙂

  3. it was very trash im crying because the mouse save the lion. Its beautiful i love 😉

    1. its not trash im tromper

    2. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you for your comment, KHARBA! I’m glad the story touched you 🙂

  4. this story is beautiful and i cry beaucse the mouse save the lion.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the comment, Tiomther! I’m happy that the story moved you 🙂

  5. Linh avatar

    I love your stories. I hope that u will have more short stories for beginners like me. Always support u

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you, Linh!

  6. Ali Suleman avatar
    Ali Suleman

    Hello! Ariel I am Ali Suleman Your stories are very excellent and fantastic and also your way of explanation and describing is really understandable! But I think you should share some motivational stories about life and fiction.
    Thanks.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the kind comment, Ali! That’s a great idea. I’ll consider that in future 🙂

  7. ensar avatar

    thank you for story 🙂

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you for the comment, ensar!

      1. Patrick Donkor avatar
        Patrick Donkor

        Love it

  8. shahin avatar
    shahin

    thank you so much

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      You’re welcome, shahin 🙂

  9. Carlos Alberto Diaz Gomez avatar
    Carlos Alberto Diaz Gomez

    Listen and enjoy!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      You’re very welcome, Carlos! 🙂

  10. Patrick Donkor avatar
    Patrick Donkor

    I love your stories. Keep writing more

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks, Patrick! 🙂

  11. Hello Ariel. I often check your podcast in Spotify so I ought to learn english since I knew many people that speak that language and speak spanish perfectly. I found out that you share a very special material, thanks for that, you are a great person.

    Please, share more begginer stories.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you for the lovely comment, Juan. I am working on more beginner stories 🙂

  12. Archie avatar
    Archie

    What a meaningful ending, Ariel.
    I really enjoy it, Thanks a lot !

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Aww thank you, Archie!

  13. Thank you for this ammaizing story.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      You’re very welcome, Ali! 🙂

  14. Nikola S. avatar
    Nikola S.

    Hello Ariel,

    I really like your podcast which I discovered few weeks ago. So thank you for it, it is great 🙂

    I am from Czech rep and we also have The Lion King dubbed in Czech, I think that you have mentioned in of the stories that you are learning Czech, maybe you can give it a try.

    Nikola

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Lví král! I’ve listened to some of the songs from it dubbed into Czech. I have a deep interest in the dubbing of Disney films 😅

      And I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast!

  15. Mifta avatar

    This story is also popular in Indonesia!
    Greeting from Indonesia 🇮🇩

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the comment, Mifta! Glad to hear it’s well-known there, too 🙂

  16. This story reminded me of a story called the lion and the dog, Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

  17. what does it mean: “you did help me”? is it correct? i’ve never heard some like this. thanks for response.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      We can use “do” to emphasize something. Crush is surprised, because he thought gentle wouldn’t be able to help him, which is why he says that.

  18. Hi Ariel!

    I’m Sara, from Colombia, and I’m enjoying your podcast SO MUCH! You are a great narrator! I love your little conversations at the beggining of each episode!! You are si fun! Thank you sooo much! ❤️

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you for the lovely comment, Sara! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast 🙂

  19. Jade avatar

    Hi Ariel!
    I’m Jade from Venezuela, I’m a beginner, I just found your website, and I loved it, I want to thank you for this great histories.
    Thank you very much, this is just what I need!

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      I’m really glad the podcast is helping you, Jade! Keep up the good work 🙂

  20. Matilda avatar
    Matilda

    Sorry for comment!
    I love your story, your speed and the talk before the story!
    Although my English listening not good, I can understand the story by the first time.
    Thank you for making this podcast, this show are interesting.
    I’m sorry that my English writing are soooo bad.
    I’m a Taiwanese, and I hope I can hear some stories about Taiwan in the future!

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thank you for the lovely comment, Matilda! And no need to apologise. I understood you perfectly 🙂

      I don’t think we’ve had any stories from Taiwan yet. If you want to suggest some stories I could look up, that would be great!

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