Androcles there a story told by Apion in his lost work "Aegyptiacorum" (Wonders of Egypt), the events of which Apion claimed to have personally witnessed in Rome. In this version, Androclus (going by the Latin variation of the name), is a runaway slave of a former Roman consul administering a part of Africa. He takes shelter in a cave, which turns out to be the den of a wounded lion, from whose paw he removes a large thorn. In gratitude, the lion becomes tame towards him and henceforward shares his catch with the slave. After three years, Androclus craves a return
In the Skin of a Lion "I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion," echoing the theme of converging voices re-telling history. The book was nominated for the Governor General's Award for English Language Fiction in 1987. Ondaatje's later and more famous novel "The English Patient" is, in part, a sequel to "In the Skin of a Lion", continuing the characters of Hana and Caravaggio, as well as revealing the fate of this novel's main character, Patrick Lewis. The first chapter, "Little Seeds," describes the growing years of the main character, Patrick