Reconstruction of towns in the East raises false hopes that the new emperor (Hadrian) intends to rebuild Jerusalem. This may have given birth to the legend reported in a midrash (Bereshit Raba, 44): In the days of Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, the emperor had decided to rebuild the Temple, but that Samaritan opposition had aborted the plan. The Jews then assembled in the valley of Rimmon, angrily demanding to revolt. Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah calmed their turbulence with a fable about a bird who with its long beak had removed a bone stuck in a lion’s throat; like that bird, he said, the Jews should be satisfied with the fact that they had entered the lion’s jaw and come away unharmed.
The lion (Rome) should not be expected to reward such a frail creature (the Jewish people). This legend vividly expresses the national and religious fermentation in Palestine, which persisted even after the destruction of the Temple and the wars waged against Trajan. (A Histrorical Atlas of the Jewish People)