Androcles and the Lion (play) 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. Androcles is captured and is sent to the Colosseum to be executed with other Christians in gladiatorial combat. They are joined by a new Christian convert called Ferrovius, who struggles to reconcile his Christian principles with his violent inclinations. The Roman captain guarding them is
A Loint of Paw A Loint of Paw "A Loint of Paw" is a vignette by American writer Isaac Asimov, first published in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" in August 1957. It was reprinted in the 1968 collection" Asimov's Mysteries "and the 1986 collection "The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov". The title of the story is a play on the words "a point of law", which alludes to fact that the punchline of the story is a play on the words of an old saw. Asimov's author's note states that he considers "a play on words the noblest form of wit."