The Spider Monster

The Spider Monster is a colossal, arachnid-like creature that appears in the Great Forest as the ultimate threat to the animal inhabitants, and its defeat marks the Cowardly Lion's decisive transformation from a self-proclaimed coward into the acknowledged King of Beasts. The monster is described as being as big as an elephant, with legs as long as a tree trunk, and it possesses eight of these long legs. Its body is covered with coarse black hair, and it has a great mouth lined with a row of sharp teeth a foot long. The creature's head is joined to its pudgy body by a neck as slender as a wasp's waist, a physical vulnerability that proves crucial to its downfall. The Spider Monster hunts by crawling through the forest, seizing animals with one of its legs and dragging them to its mouth to eat them, much as a spider does a fly. Its reign of terror has been so complete that it has already eaten all the other lions that once lived in the forest, leaving the remaining beasts—tigers, elephants, bears, wolves, and foxes—in a state of constant fear and desperation. They have gathered for a meeting to decide how to protect themselves when the Cowardly Lion and his companions happen upon them. The biggest of the tigers explains their plight to the Lion, who immediately sees an opportunity to prove his newfound courage. The Lion asks the assembled beasts if they will bow down to him and obey him as King of the Forest if he puts an end to their enemy, and they gladly agree with a mighty roar. The Lion then marches off alone to fight the monster, finding it lying asleep. Recognizing the creature's weak point—the slender neck connecting its head to its body—the Lion gives a great spring, landing directly on the monster's back. With one blow of his heavy paw, armed with sharp claws, he knocks the spider's head clean from its body. He watches until the long legs stop wiggling, confirming the monster is dead, and then returns to the waiting beasts to announce proudly that they need fear their enemy no longer. The beasts bow down to the Lion as their King, and he promises to return and rule over them as soon as Dorothy is safely on her way to Kansas. This victory is the culmination of the Lion's personal quest: he has already received a potion of courage from the humbug Wizard Oz, but the true test of that courage comes not from a magical drink but from facing a real, terrifying threat. The Spider Monster thus serves as the narrative's final, concrete obstacle that allows the Lion to internalize the bravery he has sought all along, transforming him from a character defined by his fear into one defined by his actions.