Androcles, a fugitive Christian tailor, accompanied by his nagging wife,
is on the run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he
comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife
runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a
large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the
lion in baby language.