The Woodpecker's Forgotten Favor

A lion, eating too hastily after a hunt, choked badly on a splintered bone lodged deep in his throat and thrashed in agony, unable to breathe properly. A woodpecker passing overhead saw his distress and, propping a small stick between the lion's jaws to keep them open, reached deep inside with his beak and pulled the bone free.

The lion, relieved and grateful in the moment, thanked the woodpecker warmly and went on his way. Some time later, having caught a fresh kill, the lion was eating again when the same woodpecker, now genuinely hungry himself, asked for a small share of the meal as thanks for having once saved his life.

The lion sneered. "You already got your reward," he said coldly. "You put your head inside a lion's mouth and lived to tell of it — that alone should be gratitude enough." The woodpecker, understanding at last the true measure of the creature he had helped, flew away without another word, and never went near that lion again.