Between the Lions

- Season 2

(2000)

The library's family of lions demonstrate their wonderful facility for bringing books to life by taking folklore figure Pecos Bill out of the pages of a book to join them in the library.

Illustrating the dictionary's definition of "rock" is a stone that longs to "rock and roll to freedom," so the lions oblige him by lifting him from the dictionary's pages.

The story of the day is an update of the classic tale of the mouse, let go by a lion, who, to the lion's surprise, is able to keep her promise to the lion to be helpful to him someday in return.

Cub Lionel and the pigeons attempt an animated computer-game version of the classic river-crossing puzzle, telling Lionel's little sister Leona that the game is too advanced for a four-year-old.

The whole Lion family stay up, fighting off sleep, to view a spectacular meteor shower.

New signs arrive for the library, ordering the hopping of hens and other strange commands, puzzling the Lion family and the library's patrons, until Cleo figures out that each sign lacks the word "not."

The classic story of the king who wanted to touch the moon becomes that of Una Cartoon, an apparently Caribbean "queen who wanted to touch the moon soon." The bedtime story leaves cub Leona sleepless with her desire to touch the moon herself.

The classic tale that warns against calling for help when it's not needed is illustrated with much humor and music.

"Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?" Even Theo gets a kick out of the corny lines, but seven-year-old Lionel deems such humor beneath him.

Lionel wakens with antlers, but the lion cub is nearly as taken aback by the nonchalant reaction of his parents, who merrily suggest he become a coat rack in this tune-filled episode.

Captivated by a book about pirates, Lionel wants to exclude Leona from pirate play on the ground that she's a girl, until historical pirate Anne Bonney (hardly a role model otherwise) emerges from a book to inform the cubs that there were women pirates, too.

The lion family again comes to the aid of hapless author Babs Kaplan, who has written a story with a beginning and a middle but no end.

Lionel and Leona hear the story of Pandora and her box but fail to heed its warning: they find a similar box, open it, and unleash a rash of hiccups among the library's patrons.

Lionel's emulation of his latest hero, Houdini, has little sister Leona worried that her brother will disappear permanently.

Sensible, no-nonsense computer mouse Click warns the lions that she cannot be made to laugh, even at corny jokes about flies.

The cubs read a book about a village with no readers that becomes inundated with popcorn because no one can read the instructions on the popcorn popper to turn off the machine.

Leona, skeptical of Lionel's claim that there are fish-eating eagles, asks Click to disguise her as a fish and drop her into a book about eagles.

Classical mythological figure Pygmalion emerges from a book to seek the lion family's aid in bringing his beloved statue to life.

The ram in the pepper patch escapes from his book to run wild in the library, wreaking havoc.

Leona and flaky library visitor Babs Kaplan test Lionel's impressive ability to rattle off tongue twisters.

The cubs listen to the classic tale of how a couple, granted three wishes, spent them as sausage, sausage attached to the wisher's nose, sausage gone from the wisher's nose.

A tale from Africa illustrates for the cubs the value of friendship and of seeing things from the other person's point of view.

Leona exclaims over the cuteness of a fluffy yellow duck in a book, but the duck is tired of being thought cute, so Lionel tries to help the duck change his image, starting by muddying him up a bit.

Flaky would-be author Babs Kaplan comes to the library with a story that's far from ready for publication until she gets some help from the Lion family.

The tale of a king and his winged pet teaches the cubs about friendship and trust. It's also an occasion for Leona to understand that stories don't always end happily.

Lionel realizes he has never heard his father roar. When Theo tries to explain that a library is no place for a lion's roar, Lionel decides that his father must not be a real lion, and hides his head in shame.

Leona is read a story about a rather unkingly king who wanted to be carried about so he wouldn't get his feet dirty. Leona then decides she'd like to be carried piggyback, too, and dad Theo tries to oblige.

The cubs hear the classic tale of the crow flattered by a fox into dropping her piece of cheese.

Hearing a newspaper story written in classic sports hyperbole about how the Giants clobbered the Cubs, lion cub Lionel is in distress until the players emerge from the story to explain that the Cubs often clobber the Giants in return.

The cubs learn about the music of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker through a tuneful poem.