The Lion and the Gnat
- 2 minute read
- Ages 7-11
- Aesop's Fables
A gnat flew up to a lion who was dozing in the shade and spoke directly into his ear.
"I am not afraid of you."
The lion opened one eye.
"You are a lion," the gnat went on, "and everybody says you are the king. But what can you actually do? You can scratch with your claws and bite with your teeth. Any angry woman with her nails can do as much. I am not impressed and I never have been."
"Go away," said the lion.
"No," said the gnat. "Let us fight."
The fight
And the gnat went straight for the lion's face.
It got in around the nose, where the skin is thin and there is no fur to speak of, and it bit, and then it moved and bit again, and again, in a place the lion could not reach.
The lion swiped at his own face. He missed. He swiped harder and raked his own nose with his claws. He rolled on the ground. He roared until birds went up out of the trees a mile away, and the gnat kept working around his nostrils and his eyes.
By the end the lion was bleeding from a dozen cuts he had made himself, exhausted, half blind and beaten.
He gave up and lay flat, and the gnat flew off in triumph.
The web
It went up over the field sounding its own tiny horn of a note, so pleased that it was hardly looking where it was going.
And a few feet above the hedge it flew straight into a spider's web.
It struggled. The web held. The spider came down the thread without hurrying.
And the gnat, which had defeated the strongest animal in the world twenty minutes earlier, was eaten by something smaller than a fingernail.
Moral of the story
Winning one fight does not make you safe. The thing that finishes you is usually not the thing you were bracing for.
Questions and answers
- What did the gnat say to the lion?
That it was not afraid of him and that his claws and teeth were nothing special, and it challenged him to a fight.
- How did the gnat attack?
It bit the thin skin around the lion's nose and eyes, in places the lion could not reach.
- Why did the lion end up injured?
He clawed at his own face trying to hit the gnat and cut himself repeatedly.
- What happened to the gnat after it won?
Flying off in triumph and not watching where it was going, it flew into a spider's web and was eaten.
- What is the point of the ending?
That the gnat's victory made it careless. The danger that killed it was one it never even considered.
Word meanings
- gnat
- A tiny flying insect that bites.
- dozing
- Sleeping lightly.
- raked
- Scratched with something sharp, like claws.
- triumph
- A great victory, or the feeling of winning.
Questions about The Lion and the Gnat
What is the moral of The Lion and the Gnat?
There are two. A small opponent can defeat a large one by choosing where to fight, and a victory can make you careless enough to be destroyed by something trivial.
Why could the lion not defeat the gnat?
His strength was useless. The gnat was too small to hit and attacked places he could not reach, so every attempt hurt only himself.
Is this fable about pride?
Yes, twice over. The lion is too proud to ignore the challenge, and the gnat is too pleased with itself to watch where it is going.
What age is this fable for?
Ages seven and above. The lion's self-inflicted injuries are described briefly, so it suits slightly older children.