Many centuries ago in the wilds of Africa, a startling and mystical friendship developed between a lion and a saint. St. Gerasim served the lion by removing a thorn from its paw, and in turn the lion served St. Gerasim and his monastery for the rest of his life. This small gem of a story shows us this extraordinary friendship through the eyes of the lion, and of a baboon he befriends along the way, allowing us to participate in the lion's transformation-through contact with holiness-from an undifferentiated dumb beast to a particular lion with his own name and destiny"--