His favored companion is the Hungry Tiger. He accompanies Dorothy on her journey to see Glinda, and allows his friends to stand on his back in order to escape the Dainty China Country, where he damages the only church mentioned in an Oz book until Handy Mandy in Oz (1937). In the remainder of the book, the Lion becomes almost like a bully and ready to fight. The Wizard gives him a dish of unknown liquid, telling him it is 'courage' to drink. In spite of his fears, he still goes off to hunt for his food, and he even offers to kill a deer for Dorothy to eat, but the idea makes her uncomfortable. When they come into another, wider chasm, the Cowardly Lion holds off two Kalidahs while the Tin Woodman cuts a tall tree to cross it. During the journey, he leaps across a chasm on the road of yellow brick multiple times, each time with a companion on his back, and then leaps back to get the next one. Despite outward evidence that he is unreasonably fearful, The Cowardly Lion displays great bravery along the way. The Cowardly Lion joins her so that he can ask The Wizard for courage, ashamed that he is not brave enough to play his cultural role of the King of the Beasts. She calls the Lion a coward and the Lion admits that he is.

When he tries to bite Toto, Dorothy slaps him. He is the last of the companions Dorothy befriends on her way to the Emerald City where he ambushes her, Toto, Scarecrow, and Tin Woodman.

The Cowardly Lion makes his first appearance in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In many scenes of the classic book and film, he shows bravery in the face of danger, similar to the Scarecrow who wants a brain whilst he is the smartest one, and the Tin Man who wants a heart but cries to his detriment when he does anything remotely mean by accident and rusts himself still.īooks Dorothy meets the Cowardly Lion, from the first edition. The Cowardly Lion is in fact brave, but he doubts himself. He argues that the courage from the Wizard is only temporary, although he continues to do brave deeds. Only during the aftermath of the Wizard's gift, when he is under the influence of an unknown liquid substance that the Wizard orders him to drink is he not filled with fear. Since lions are supposed to be 'The Kings of Beasts', the Cowardly Lion believes that his fear makes him inadequate, without understanding that courage means not a lack of fear but acting in the face of fear, which he does frequently. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak. The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Jess Harnell ( Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz) Jim Belushi ( Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return) The Cowardly Lion as illustrated by William Wallace Denslow (1900)įred Woodward ( His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz)Ĭedric the Entertainer (1995 Apollo Theater Revival)

Wizard of oz play script lion