Mercy – stories

One of my favorite stories about mercy and friendship is Amos and Boris by William Steig. It is a little long and needs to be shortened for a time for all ages presentation. It is a take on the Aesop fable. A whale saves an adventurous mouse out in the ocean, and they part as good friends. The tables are turned years later when the whale washes up on the shore where the mouse lives and he has to figure out a way to save is friend.

I have presented this story many times to different age groups, and it touches even the toughest kids. I was a school librarian for a few years in a very rough area of the county before I became a DRE.

I did the lion and the mouse a few weeks ago as a story on mercy. I invite families to help me tell the stories and had a mother playing the lion and a little girl being the mouse. The little girl actually got scared of her mom being a lion while they practiced at home and we had to ask a friend of hers to step in the night before. It is mostly narrated, and each character has a few lines.? I have copied the script below. I edited a version of the fable I found on the web.

Peace,

Starbuck Hersey

Director of religious Education

Channing Memorial Church

Ellicott City, MD

Starbuck: Once, as a lion lay sleeping in his den, a naughty little mouse ran up his tail, and onto his back and up his mane and danced and jumped on his head ...... so that the lion woke up.

[image: lion angry and mouse](The lion grabbed the mouse and, holding him in his large claws, roared in anger. )

K: 'How dare you wake me up! Don't you know that I am King of the Beasts?

Anyone who disturbs my rest deserves to die! I shall kill you and eat you!'

Starbuck: The terrified mouse, shaking and trembling, begged the lion to let him go.

R: 'Please don't eat me Your Majesty! I did not mean to wake you, it was a mistake. I was only playing. Please let me go -*have mercy on me*. Who knows but one day I could save your life?'

Starbuck: The lion looked at the tiny mouse and laughed.

K: (laughing scornfully) 'You save my life? What an absurd idea! ...But you have made me laugh, and put me into a good mood again, so I shall let you go.'

Starbuck: And the lion opened his claws and let the mouse go free.

R: 'Oh thank you, your majesty,'

Starbuck: The mouse scurried away as fast as he could.

(Mouse scurries away down the aisle, Lion gets covered in a net)

A few days later the lion was caught in a hunter's snare. Struggle as she might, she couldn't break free and became even more entangled in the net of ropes. She let out a roar of anger that shook the forest. Every animal heard it, including the tiny mouse.

R: 'My friend the lion is in trouble,'

Starbuck: She ran as fast as he could in the direction of the lion's roar, and soon found the liontrapped in the hunter's snare.

(mouse comes back up the aisle)

K: '*Oh little mouse, have mercy on me! *The hunters have caught me in their net!'

R: 'I'll have you out of there in a jiffy!'

Starbuck: And without further delay, the mouse began nibbling through the ropes with his sharp little teeth. Very soon the lion was free.

[image: lion happy and mouse]K : 'I did not believe that you could be of use to me, little mouse, but today you saved my life,'

R: 'It was my turn to help you, Sire,' answered the mouse.

Starbuck: Even the weak and small may be of help to those much mightier than themselves.