Little Tyke
StoryIllustrationAnalogy★★★★A mother lioness in the Seattle Zoo killed her newborn cubs—all but one. The little cub was rescued and given to a friend of the zoo to raise. He was a butcher and thought, “It will be simple to feed this lion because I can feed it with scraps from my butcher shop.” But amazing as it sounds, the lion, which he named Little Tyke, would not touch meat.
From the first to the last of its life, Little Tyke was a vegetarian! She was so peaceful and gentle. Her owner trained her and would often display her in public gatherings. On stage, before a live audience, a couch would be placed on the platform.
From the wings a live lamb would be carried and placed on the couch. Then without bars, chains, or a leash, there came a large, full grown lion.
She would take one look at the audience and everyone gasped to realize that there were no restraints. The lion could have run right down into the audience and what a stir of panic that would have caused. She would sniff the air, catch sight of the lamb, and run straight to the helpless lamb on the couch and jump right up with it. When she lay down beside the lamb with her paws cuddling it, the audience breathed a sigh of relief.
The point
A lion orphaned and raised by a butcher refused all meat and became vegetarian, demonstrating that nature can be transformed by nurture and kindness. Illustrates the power of grace to transform the wild.