Identify the context and significance of this quotation from…
Identify the context and significance of this quotation from Aesop (4-6 good sentences): ‘Can you really be so mean spirited? So overcome by fear? So suspicious of your friends? The lion only wanted what was good for you! In an attempt to rouse you from your former idleness, he tugged at your ear, as a father might do on his deathbed. He wanted to bestow on you every precept you would need in order to take charge of such a kingdom, but you could not even withstand the touch of his feeble hand! Instead, you violently turned aside, inflicting a serious wound on yourself. As for the lion, at this moment he is even more upset than you are. Now that he has found you to be so untrustworthy and scatter-brained, he says that the wolf will be appointed king. Alas alack, what a wicked master he will be! What shall I do then? You are the one who has brought these evils upon all of us. But come, you must be more brave in the future and not let yourself be as easily frightened as some sheep from the flock. I swear these things to you by all the leaves on the trees and by every spring of water: I want to serve you and only you! There is nothing hostile about the lion’s behaviour; his heartfelt wish is to make you queen of all the animals!’ With these coaxing words, the fox persuaded the tawny deer to enter once again into that very abode of death