Basic Trope: The hero aids an animal, which in turn aids him in his time of need.
- Straight: Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Later, when some Evil Poachers show up, the bear comes back and scares them away.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Later, when some Evil Poachers show up, the bear comes back and takes a bullet for him.
- Bob rescues a whole bunch of animals which later help him when he's in need.
- Downplayed: Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Rather than attack him, the bear just leaves him alone.
- Justified:
- The bear is intelligent enough to understand the concept of gratitude.
- There's an Animal Code of Honour that forces animals to do this for humans who've helped them.
- Unbeknownst to Bob, the bear is actually a human trapped in bear form.
- Inverted:
- A deer shows Bob which berries are safe to eat. Later on, Bob sees the same deer being chased by a bear, and he scares the bear off.
- Bob sees a bear in a trap and ignores it, the bear then breaks free himself and tracks down Bob.
- Bob sees a bear in a trap and frees it. The bear then kills him.
- Subverted:
- Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg... and it immediately attacks him.
- Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Later, when some Evil Poachers show up, the bear appears again... mostly ignores the humans and leaves.
- The Farmer and the Viper.
- Double Subverted:
- The bear was actually swatting away a scorpion off of Bob's back that it saw but Bob hadn't.
- But the bear comes back when Bob's under attack by wolves.
- Parodied:
- Bob likes feeding ducks at the pond. He later finds that he has an entire flock of Androcles' Ducks following him around.
- Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Later, when Bob is accused of a crime he didn't commit, the bear shows up in courtroom with evidence that Bob was in the woods that day.
- Zig Zagged: Bob helps a bear out of a trap, but it bites him in the process. Later on, Bob's ambushed by Evil Poachers, but the bear shows up to scare them off... then it bites Bob again.
- Averted: Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg, and it leaves, never to show up again.
- Enforced: The writers want to do a Very Special Episode against poaching, but can't find a way to tell the audience why hunting top predators to extinction is bad and still make engaging television.
- Lampshaded: "Wow, it's a good thing I helped the smartest bear in the world back there!"
- Invoked: Bob has read the original story, and tries helping a bear to see if it works in real life.
- Exploited: Bob lives a dangerous life, and so constantly helps wild animals so that they'll save him when he gets into a rough patch.
- Defied: Bob removes a trap from a bear's leg. Later, when some Evil Poachers show up, the bear comes back, but the hunters shoot at it and scare it away.
- Discussed: "I bet that if I help this bear, it'll come back and help me when some hunters show up!"
- Conversed: Alice and Bob talk about the original story of Androcles' Lion and note how unrealistic it is - in real life, the lion would either leave or eat him.
- Deconstructed: Bob approaches a bear with its leg in a trap, but afterwards it lashes out and nearly kills him.
- Reconstructed: But Bob persists, using calming body language and giving it food, so that it calms down enough for him to help it.
- Played For Laughs: The bear's return is heralded with heroic music and slow-motion sequences. After the hicks flee, the bear waves his paw at Bob (who returns the salute), winks and leaves.
- Played For Drama: The bear had to work with Bob because the other bears saw accepting Bob's help as a betrayal and kicked him out.
- Implied: Bob closes his eyes when the hicks attack him, but then he hears a loud roar. It's not outright stated, but it was probably the bear that helped him.
- Plotted A Good Waste: It a long setup for an Interspecies Friendship with an animal that is otherwise hostile to humans.
Back to Androcles' Lion
