This story comes from the
English Aesop unit, which features fables in prose and in verse by Sir Roger L'Estrange, Christopher Smart, Sir Brooke Boothby, and James Davies. The following is
Sir Brooke Boothby's version of the ancient fable about the debate between a man and a lion. When a man points to a statue of a man strangling a lion as proof of man's superiority, the lion points out that, if lions were able to sculpt, they would show a lion strangling a man!
The Lion and the Man
Lion and Man, on some pretense,
Disputed for preeminence.
In marble wrought, the latter show'd
A man who o'er a lion strode.
"If that be all," the beast replied,
"A lion on a man astride
You soon assuredly would view,
The sculptor's art if lions knew."
Each nation would the rest excel,
If their own tale allow'd to tell.
And here are some illustrations:
