Androcles and the Lion

by Bernard Shaw

"Androcles and the Lion" by Bernard Shaw is a play written in 1912. It retells the ancient fable of a Christian slave who removes a thorn from a lion's paw. When Androcles is later sentenced to die in the Roman Colosseum, he faces the same grateful lion in the arena. Shaw crafted this work as a response to religious melodramas and children's plays he found lacking, blending humor, faith, and unexpected mercy into a tale of compassion rewarded.