Aesop

　　Aesop lived in Greece over 2,500 years ago.  He was a slave and a storyteller.  Aesop wrote more than 600 stories.  His stories are short, and the characters are usually animals.  The stories teach the reader something about life.  “Androcles and the Lion” is one of my favorite of Aesop’s stories.

　　Scene 1　　　　ALTによるReading (slow) 　　　ALTによるReading (fast) 

　　Once upon a time there was a slave called Androcles.  Because the life of a slave was hard, Androcles decided to run away from his owner.  One day he ran away into the forest.  He couldn’t find enough food to eat, and he had no place to stay at night.  So Androcles became quite weak and tired.
  　Androcles found a cave when he was looking for food one day.  He went inside because he thought he could rest there.  The cave was dark, and at first Androcles couldn’t see well.  Later, when he looked around the cave, he became quite afraid.  The cave was the home of a lion, and when the lion saw Androcles, it moved towards him.  Androcles thought the lion was going to kill him, but the lion sat down near Androcles and held up one of its feet.
　　When Androcles looked at the lion’s foot, he saw a large thornstuck in it.  Androcles took out the thorn, and the lion became quite happy.  The lion gave Androcles some meat to eat, and for many days Androcles stayed with the lion in the cave.

　　Scene ２　　　　ALTによるReading (slow)　　　ALTによるReading (fast)

 　One day some men who were looking for Androcles came to the cave.  They found Androcles and the lion and took both of them to the king.  The king was angry and said Androcles would be killed.  The king told his men to put the lion in a cage.
　　A few days later Androcles was taken to a large stadium.  He was told he had to fight a wild animal.  A cage was brought into the stadium, and when the door was opened, a lion walked out.  The lion was hungry, and it ran towards Androcles.  But when it got close to him, the lion stopped.  　The lion held up its foot, and Androcles held the lion’s foot in his hand.  It was the same lion Androcles helped in the forest!
　　The king and all the people were surprised.  The people asked the king to be kind to Androcles, and the king agreed.  Androcles became a free man, and the lion was taken back to its cave.

＜注＞
Aesop（イソップ；ギリシアの寓話作家），slave（奴隷），storyteller（物語作家），character（登場人物），
Androcles（アンドロクレース；ローマの伝説的な奴隷），once upon a time（昔々），owner（所有者），
quite（とても），cave（ほら穴），inside（内側に），towards（〜の方へ），kill（〜を殺す），
held up ＜hold up（〜を持ち上げる），feet＜foot（足）の複数形，thorn（とげ），stuck＜stick（刺す）の過去分詞，
meat（肉）， cage（おり），stadium（競技場），fight（〜と戦う），wild（野生の），close（近くに）