The Lion Cub Who Learned To Sing (Dragon's Lair This Is Me Challenge)
Author's note: This is my entry for the Dragon's Lair 'This Is Me' challenge event. (http://www.sofurry.com/threadview?threadid=11138) Sorry it's a bit late, but it's been a rather busy month. >_< This ended up getting pushed back until the last minute, and squeaking in just under the wire. Somehow, it ended up being almost 8000 words too. Not really sure how that happened. o: Still, I'm quite happy with it, and hope you enjoy it for what it is.
Having recently read a book of African folk tales, I was struck and inspired by their earnest, stark styles. These were not tales that waxed on with elegant descriptions or complex emotions and settings, but simply related a strong tale about larger than life characters. That is not to say that there is no beauty and complexity in these stories --far from it-- but they are possessed of a simplicity and directness that is refreshing, to say the least, and does not shy away from the harsh realities that come with living in the real world. They tell it how it is, with characters that stay true to their personalities, no matter how bizarre their circumstances may be. That is the style I aimed to capture here, and I only hope that I was able to present to you some shadow of that simple beauty. This is my own, personal tale, converted to a metaphor and boiled down to its most basic form. Take it as you will. I'll shut up now and let you read it. :P
Enjoy!
The Lion Cub Who Learned to Sing
Dragon's Lair 'This Is Me' Challenge
Deep in the northern jungles, there once lived a young lion cub. This lion cub was much like all the other lion cubs who had been born in the same season as he. His fur was tawny and coarse, mottled with the faint splashes of darker shades that would grow out with age. His eyes were pools of liquid gold, centering around his feline gaze, and his ears sat perked and rounded atop his head, twitching in the breeze or at the faintest sound. When he played, his tufted tail swished and cavorted as well, mimicking his high-pitched growls and mock roars.
But, not all things about this particular lion cub were the same as the others. Unlike his brothers and sisters and friends, he had been born very small. Skinny rather than trim, delicate rather than muscular, and clumsy instead of graceful. His paws were much too big for him to manage, and he would always find a way to trip himself up, earning the laughter and scorn of the other lion cubs. Each time this happened, he would pick himself up, hold his head high, and continue skipping merrily along his way... until that inevitable moment when he would tumble down into the dust once more.
"Look at him!" mocked his older, stronger brother. "How will he ever grow a lion's mane if he is always rolling in the dirt? Manes will not grow in such dirty fur, for they would be ashamed to sprout! 'I am no tree,' it would think, 'to be planted in this dirt. I shall not grow here.' And then what will he be if he has no mane? I do not think he will be a lion at all!"
All the lion cubs laughed at this, except for the very small lion cub. He tried to get up and go back to chasing the butterflies once more, but tangled himself in his tail, and yowled in frustration as he was once more sprawled into the dirt.
"I think he is no lion now," called one of the older brother's friends. "Lions are not defeated by their own tails. Perhaps he is a mouse instead, and we can have some fun chasing and capturing him?"
"I am no mouse, I am a lion!" protested the young lion cub, adding his best roar to make his point. Unfortunately for him, even his best roar was not yet anything like the lofty tones of a fully grown lion, and it came out as little more than a high pitched squeak.
"He certainly sounds like a mouse to me," declared the older brother, "but mother will be very angry if we chase him away. Let us go and hunt other mice down in the long grass, and leave this one to find his own mice friends to play with."
The other lion cubs agreed that the older, stronger brother's plan was a good one, and all of them laughed at the poor young lion as they left him all alone, tangled in his own tail. Only one of the cubs stayed behind, for he felt a little sorry for the young lion. This lion cub helped the small one back to his paws, and unwound him from his tail, but then he too dashed away, not wanting to be scorned by all the other lion cubs like the small lion had been.
That night, as the lion pride was settling into their warm dens to sleep, the young lion cub asked his mother, "Mother, am I not a lion? Am I instead a mouse?"
His mother chuckled at the young lion's foolishness, and began carefully cleaning some of the accumulated dirt from behind the his ears. "No, my son, you are most certainly a lion. Even the smallest of lions can grow up to be big lions, and one day, you too shall do so. Who has given you such foolish ideas?"
"But, what if my mane never grows? Brother says if I keep falling in the dirt, I will never grow a large mane like father, and how can I be a lion without a mane?"
"Do not listen to everything your brother tells you, my son," his mother said, easily holding him in place as he tried to squirm away from her cleaning. "I have no mane, yet I am still a lion. It is not the mane that makes you a lion, but it is the heart beneath the mane. For what you are in your heart, is what you shall be on the outside."
The young lion cub considered this for a long moment, even consenting to sit still while his mother finished cleaning him. He had never thought about such things before. "What if I wish to be something other than a lion?"
"Oh? And what is it that you would wish to be?" The lion cub's mother smiled down at him, pleased that he had taken time to think about her words, for she was proud of her son, despite the fact that he was very small.
The young lion thought hard about this question, his muzzle scrunching in concentration as he wondered about all the things he could be. "Perhaps I would like to be an elephant. They are big and strong, and have nothing to be afraid of, for they are larger than all the animals. Or perhaps I should be a monkey, living in the trees and building wondrous things with clever paws."
"These are certainly good choices," agreed his mother. "But are these things better than being a lion? Maybe you should try being like them first, before you decide to grow up to be one. Then if you do not like it, you will not be stuck as something you do not wish to be."
The young lion cub nodded, seeing his mother's wisdom in this matter. He thought for a moment longer, then sighed in frustration. "There are so many animals I could be! How will I know which is the right one?"
His mother nuzzled him lovingly, chuckling softly. "Ask the animals you wish to be how to be like them, and you will know which is the right one. Young as you are, the wisdom that you have shall be enough to guide you in this matter. Consider your choices well, and tell me the stories about what you learn when you come home each night."
Tilting his head to the side, curious, the young lion asked, "Mother, have you been something other than a lion before?"
"Go to sleep, my child," his mother said with a yawn. "Do not say foolish things. What better thing could there be for me than to be a lion? I shall always be a lion, for that is what I am meant to be, and that is why my son is also a lion. Think about this, and then we shall see. But, even were you something other than a lion, I shall always love you, just the same. For you are my son, and in time, you will grow into what you are meant to be. And whatever you are meant to be, there shall always be a part of you that is a lion, despite what your brother may say."
_____
The next day, the young lion cub left the den soon after the sun rose, excited to try what his mother had suggested. He did not go with the other lion cubs to their favourite places to run and play, instead travelling down to the edge of the great plains, where the forests met sun-baked earth and open skies.
He had come upon an idea during the night, and so was very happy to find what he was searching for down on the savannah. A small family of elephants plodded along the treeline, browsing leisurely among the lush branches for the choicest morsels of their breakfast.
The slow moving giants ignored the lion cub at first, permitting him to dash alongside and watch them, tripping occasionally when he didn't watch where he was going. The elephants were content to move along their way, long trunks snatching succulent leaves to eat, stripping branches with their heavy tusks, sometimes rubbing their wrinkled sides against the trees to rid themselves of a pesky fly.
Eventually, one of the younger elephants, a bull just entering his prime, noticed the small intruder tumbling about so close to his feet, and halted in his tracks. "Here now," he exclaimed, "is that a lion cub I see? What business do you have with us? Shoo now, so you do not become trampled by mistake."
The young lion cub was out of breath from running alongside the much larger animals, but he hastily pulled his dignity together, wishing to impress this mighty creature. "Yes, I am a lion cub," he said to the elephant, as well as to the other elephants that had stopped to listen. "But I do not know if I wish to continue being a lion. I thought an elephant might be a fine thing to be instead, so I watched you and your family to discover how I might go about becoming like an elephant instead of a lion."
Hearing this, the bull elephant threw back his trunk, letting forth a great, trumpeting laugh. To hear this small creature say such a thing was a great joke indeed. But, the elephant had no wish to be a cruel creature, and decided to humour the young lion. "Noble and wise lion cub," he replied, once he could control his laughter. "Tell me why you should like to become an elephant. Is it not a fine enough thing to be a lion?"
The lion cub nodded, but said, "It is a very fine thing, but I am not like the other lions. I am small, and not as strong as the other cubs. Elephants are large, mighty animals, fearing nothing, and do not have to worry about tripping over small things cluttering the ground. Your hides are thick, and your tusks are long and sharp. It seems to me to be a very good thing to be."
The elephant agreed that these were excellent reasons, and began to feel proud from the young lion cub's praise. "Indeed, we are the largest and strongest," he proclaimed. "We wander the plains and forests all day, choosing to eat where and what we please, and when the day grows warm, we may bathe in the watering holes to our heart's content, using our long trunks to splash and soak. But, my young friend, I am afraid you are far too small to become an elephant. You must be able to push aside trees when they block your path, or pull up bushes and branches that are tasty to eat, and you must fear no creature, great or small. This is what it means to be an elephant."
The young lion cub thought about it for a moment, considering what the elephant had said. As he opened his mouth to reply that, yes, he could manage all of these things if he was shown how, a mouse scurried out in front of him from a hole in the ground, scrounging for seeds or soft grasses for his nest.
The large elephant's eyes widened with terror, and he reared up, trumpeting at the top of his lungs. The other elephants took up the call, screaming in fear of the tiny mouse, turning tail as one and stampeding off across the plains.
Naturally, the lion cub was very surprised by this, but he could do nothing but watch as the elephants thundered away, startling small flocks of birds from their hiding places in the bushes and long grasses. It wasn't long before they were no more than a receding cloud of dust on the horizon. "Perhaps these were not real elephants," he said amiably to the mouse, "if real elephants fear no creature, great or small. I certainly do not fear you, so maybe I already know how it is to be a true elephant?"
The mouse merely squeaked in reply, realizing belatedly that it was in the presence of a lion -albeit a very small one- and scampered quickly back towards its hole. The lion cub considered giving chase, but allowed the mouse to go free, as it had provided the very amusing sight of such mighty creatures fleeing from one so small.
"I do not think I wish to be elephants like these," the lion cub mused. "For then I too would have to run at the sight of a mouse, and then what would my brother say? Even the mouse is braver than these elephants, for it did not run right away from my claws. And I must be braver still than both of these, for I did not run at all!"
Bolstered and chuckling at this thought, the young lion cub trotted and skipped away from the plains, eager to search for more animals he might like to be.
_____
Later on that afternoon, the young lion cub came to a river, deciding to stop for a drink, as the day was growing very warm. He had been thinking very hard while he walked, and had yet to decide where he would go next. The water was cool and refreshing upon his dry tongue and throat, and the small lion cub drank and drank, finding that he was even thirstier than he thought, until he was so full, his belly grew round and heavy with all the water.
Suddenly, two of the logs that had been floating in the middle of the river opened their eyes and blinked, staring right at the lion cub. He jumped up in surprise, realizing now that they were not logs at all, but sun-bathing crocodiles with scaled skin and many sharp, gleaming teeth in their jaws. One of them opened her mouth wide, snapping it shut at the young lion cub in a croaking laugh.
"What have we here on our shores?" the crocodile asked in a loud voice. "A tender morsel of meat, who has drank more than his share of our river? Can he run away now, I wonder, with his belly so full it drags upon the ground?"
The young lion cub was a bit frightened, as he found that indeed, he would not be able to run. His belly was too heavy, and he could do no more than waddle and hop if he were to flee from the crocodiles. The crocodiles began to swim closer, and the lion cub quickly thought of how he might stop them from eating him. He was far too small to fight them off, but perhaps he could convince them that he was nothing to be snacking upon.
"Cunning crocodiles," he called, "I had hoped I would find your kin here at this river to speak with, for I am a very curious lion cub, and only the clever crocodiles can answer the questions I have."
This caught the attention of the crocodiles, for none of the other animals ever wished to speak with them. They were hunters to be feared, and never before had anyone called them clever, or sought to ask them questions. Intrigued, they halted their advance, floating in the shallows near the shore as they examined the young lion cub.
"What questions would you ask of us?" the first crocodile asked. "Do you wish to go to the other side of the river? I have heard of other animals who tried to cross along the backs of our kin, thinking they were no more than logs in the water, but they were swiftly eaten. Surely you do not wish to try this foolish thing?"
"No, I prefer this side of the river," replied the lion cub, cautiously pushing himself back away from the riverbank. "You see, I am looking for other animals to be, and all of the ones I know of are on this side of the river. But, I had wondered what it would be like to be a crocodile instead of a lion. I have already tried to be an elephant today, but the elephants I met were not really elephants at all, and could not satisfy my curiosity. Perhaps you could tell me what it means to be a crocodile?"
Both of the crocodiles found this to be a very funny joke, picturing the young lion cub with a long crocodile tail and thick, scaly crocodile skin. They both thrashed about wildly in the water, rolling over and splashing as they croaked their laughter, tears of mirth brimming in their eyes. The lion cub took this chance to waddle back up the riverbank a bit further, hoping they would not notice, but also hoping they would answer his question.
"Oh foolish lion cub," proclaimed the second crocodile as he managed to stop laughing. "For asking such a question, I do not think I wish to eat you any longer, as I have not laughed so hard in a long time."
"I agree," said the first crocodile, her tail slapping the water as she shook with amusement still. "We will answer your question, young, brave lion cub, who dares come to our river in the middle of the day. Other animals are always afraid of us, as being a crocodile means we must eat meat to live, much as the lions do, though we are not so pretty a creature as you! We have no fluffy manes and swishing tails, and never would we drink so much water as to roll around on our bellies!" At this, both crocodiles began chuckling again, rolling over in the water, their white bellies flashing in the sun.
The lion cub could not help but join in the fun, laughing at his own foolish predicament, and feeling proud that he had managed to talk the crocodiles out of eating him. "You may not have beautiful fur coats," he said, as their mirth began to quiet down, "but your scales allow you to glide through the water with ease, and disguise you against prying eyes, making you look like harmless logs. Is this not a good thing?"
"It is a very good thing," agreed the second crocodile, nodding his head solemnly, though his teeth still showed in a wide grin. "We are not evil creatures, but it is easier for us to hunt when we appear as logs to the other animals, tricking them into coming close. Being a crocodile means being patient, floating still and calm in the river, and watching the shores without giving your presence away. You must be able to dive and swim as well, for there are many tasty fish to eat under the water, and it provides a cool place to hide from the sun when it grows too hot."
This sounded like a very good idea to the young lion cub. "I should like to see under the water of the river," he said, "and taste these fish!" He tried to jump to his feet again, though it was more of a waddle as his belly was still too full to allow him to jump. His tail thrashed wildly in his excitement, as he imagined what it must be like, floating in the cool waters all day. "What should I do to become a crocodile instead of a lion?"
"But, brave lion cub," put in the first crocodile, cutting him off before he could speak further. "You cannot be a crocodile, for where are your scales and snapping jaws? Where is your strong, thrashing tail? You wriggle and twitch and squirm, and I do not believe you can swim. How can you float and dive and wait in the river all day? No, I believe you are better off as you are, for you have already proven yourself as cunning as any crocodile."
"Yes," added the second crocodile, "go to your home and think on this, clever lion cub. You would drown if you jumped into these waters, and after speaking with you we do not wish this to happen."
The young lion cub hung his head, realizing that the crocodiles were right -he did not know how to swim. "Will you teach me how?"
"No," the crocodiles said together. "For you do not have the patience to be a crocodile. Also, a lion does not need to learn how to swim, for then we crocodiles would never have food of our own! The lions hunt on the land, and the crocodiles hunt in the water, this is how it must be."
Seeing the truth in their words, the lion cub agreed that perhaps a crocodile was not the thing for him to be after all. The only thing he truly wanted was to take a nap and wait for his belly not to be so full of water. "Then I thank you, wise crocodiles, for teaching me these things," he proclaimed. "I will not try to swim in your river."
"Do not fear, young lion cub," said the second crocodile. "You have no need to swim. If you wish to cross the river, you may come down to us here, and we will carry you on our backs to the other side. We will tell our kin that you are not one to be eaten, no matter how close to the water you may come, for you are a crocodile as well as a lion, and it is not right for crocodiles to eat other crocodiles."
With that, the two crocodiles bid the lion cub farewell, chortling as they did so, and turned tail to sink beneath the surface of the water, quickly vanishing from sight. The young lion cub breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the meeting had turned out so well. He had not learned how to be a crocodile, but he had become friends with them instead, and discovered how they lived their lives.
"I should still like to try some of these fish," he mused to himself. "But that can wait for another day. Now, I must nap to rid myself of this full belly, remember not to drink so much water all at once!" Smiling and giving his own sloshing belly a prod, he pulled himself up the riverbank and under a shade tree, where he quickly fell fast asleep.
_____
After he awoke from his nap, the lion cub's belly had returned to something resembling its normal size, and he decided there was one more animal he should visit before he returned to his den for the night. He had to travel for some time to get there, as none of the animals liked to live close to where men did, but the animal he wished to see lived close by to the human village.
As he drew closer to the village, the grasses grew shorter, trimmed and pruned by the men, so that clever leopards or hyenas could not sneak close and steal food from them. The young lion cub was forced to move cautiously, for many of the men were still about on their daily chores, and would not take kindly to a lion cub in their village.
Huts with straw roofs were clustered around a central clearing, where the people of the village would meet and work together or tell stories, or draw water from their well. On the edges of the village, behind the huts, goats, pigs or chickens stood placidly inside wooden fences, talking amongst themselves or eating from the food given to them by the men.
Careful not to draw attention to himself, the young lion cub snuck quietly up to a pen which held a single billy goat, and called out to him softly from the grasses. "Greetings, friend goat, may I speak with you?"
The goat was quite surprised to hear a strange voice coming from no one he could see, and bleated fearfully, "Who is there? Are you a ghost that comes to speak with me? Begone! I will not speak with one I cannot see."
"I mean you no harm," the lion cub said quickly, "and I am no ghost, but I must warn you that I am a lion cub, so please do not be startled when I come out of the grass. I am a very small lion cub, so I cannot hurt you, even if I wanted to. I only wish to ask you a few things."
The goat was quite suspicious of these claims, but nodded that the young lion cub could present himself. As the lion cub poked his head slowly from the grasses, the goat relaxed, as he could now see that indeed, he was a very small, harmless looking lion cub, and nothing to fear. The billy goat knew the lion cub would not be able to eat him without the men hearing and coming to his rescue.
"What sort of questions do you have for one such as I?" queried the goat, pawing the ground with his hoof and shaking his horns at the lion cub. "If you are looking to trick me out of my pen so that you can bring me back to your brothers and sisters to eat, I warn you I will not be fooled! I am safe here in this pen, and if I bleat loudly the men will come with spears and chase you away!"
"No, that is not it at all," the lion cub assured, amused at the goat's threats towards him, as the goat was far larger than he was, and could certainly defend himself without the help of the men and their spears. "You see, though I am a lion, I had thought that it might be a fun thing to try being a goat like yourself. As you say, you are safe in your pen, and the men come every day to feed you and take care of all your needs. This seems to me like a fine life to live, as you can spend all your time at play as you wish, and never have to worry about food or a place to sleep at night! Would you not agree?"
The goat, vain creature that he was, preened at the lion cub's words, though he still shied away from the rails of his pen, fearful of the lion cub's approach. "Yes, the men tend to all my needs, and I have many friends in the pens nearby. The men shelter us and take us to pastures on the mountainside, so that we may taste the sweet grasses that grow there."
This sounded very good to the young lion cub, but before he could answer, the goat snorted and shook his head, continuing. "We live our lives in luxury and peace, and when we grow old, we become food for the men, passing on to the spirits before we grow sick and frail. It is indeed a happy life, but not one you can share. Where are your horns and hooves? Where is your shaggy beard? You look nothing like a goat! Can you make milk for the men to drink? Would you consent to become a meal in your old age, when your years grow short? I think not!"
This made the young lion cub indignant, for he knew he could easily live such a life. What was so hard about being a goat? "I do not see why I cannot. What is it that makes a goat a goat? Is there any of the things you mentioned that I cannot do? You yourself cannot make milk for the men, so why can I not be a goat like you? Allow me to come inside your pen, and we shall see how good of a goat I can be!"
At this, the goat laughed noisily, thinking the lion cub was making a joke. "You are no goat!" he chortled. "What do you know of eating grass and hay? How can you run alongside our herd as we jump over mountain rocks to get to the green fields? You may try to act like a goat, but you shall always be a lion."
As he spoke, the lion cub was busy scrambling over the rails of the pen, and squirming his way between the gaps. Just as he made it through onto the packed earth of the pen, the goat realized what was happening, and bleated loudly in fear. "Help! Help! This vicious lion is here to eat me! Come, chase him away with your spears! Hurry before I am slaughtered like an innocent kid!"
The lion cub merely stood there as the goat cowered away, quite pleased with himself for making it inside. He made quite a fine goat, did he not? Surely the men would see he was as much a goat as this other, and allow him to stay?
Shouting, human voices rose up from the huts, causing both the lion cub and the goat to look towards the center of the village. Men were coming around the back of their homes, holding spears aloft, warned by the goats loud bleating.
"See? They come to chase you away!" proclaimed the goat, satisfied and much less afraid now that the danger was past. "Run, little lion cub, before they prod you! You are no goat, you cannot stay here!"
One of the men finally spotted the lion cub standing in the pen with the goat, and shouted to the others, pointing with his spear. This told the lion cub that, much as he had tried, the goat was right. He did not look like a goat, and now the men would come after him for being too near their precious goat.
Frightened, the young lion cub clambered back through the rails, managing to get back to the outside just as the men reached the pen. A spear whistled overhead, and the young lion cub wasted no time running as fast as he could back into the grasses. Fortunately, perhaps because of his fear, he did not trip over his paws and fall, and soon he could no longer hear the voices of the men chasing him. He stopped under a bush, panting for breath, and listened carefully, but the men had gone back to their village, content simply to drive the lion cub away.
"It is not so difficult to be a goat," he said to himself as he caught his breath. "But becoming one is far too hard. The men will never allow a lion like me to live like a goat, and besides, I do not think I would like the taste of grass." He would need to continue searching another day, for the sun was already drawing low on the horizon. It was time to head back to the den.
_____
That night, the young lion cub told his mother all the things he had learned. She listened closely, telling him that he had chosen wisely not to become any of these things, but happy that he had learned what it was like to be an elephant, or a crocodile, or a goat.
"You are clever, my son," she told him. "And you should keep searching for things you wish to be. When you find the right one, you will know what it is, and until then, you can tell me all the things that you learn along the way."
So, the next day, and every day after that, the lion cub woke up early, and hurried off to talk to more animals about how to become like them instead of a lion. He spoke to the hippos, and the giraffes. He talked to the baboons and the hares, the gazelles and the frogs. The ostriches did not wish to speak to him, but the leopard was more than willing. Some were happy to share their knowledge, others were reluctant, but one way or another, the lion cub gathered many tales to tell his mother each night.
"And what did the monkeys say when you asked them what you must do to become one of them?" asked the lion cub's mother.
"They were clever and tricky," replied the young lion cub. "They told me that they spent their days making things with their hands, building houses out of sticks to live in, and swinging among the treetops together. They told me I could join them, and that they had a treehouse prepared just for me! But I needed to prove myself by climbing up to it without any help."
As he spoke, the young lion cub's head drooped in shame, for this story was one of embarrassment for him, but he had promised to tell his mother all the things he experienced. "I hurried to climb the tree, but it was far too wide for me to wrap my paws around. My claws would not hold on to the bark, and no matter how fast I ran, I could not make it more than halfway! The monkeys began to laugh, all enjoying the fine joke they had played on me, and I had no choice but to give up." He held up his paws, gesturing. "Lion's paws are not like monkey hands, and they knew it would be impossible for me to make it up to the house."
The lion cub's mother gently licked his ears, comforting him. "It is a fine lesson you learned indeed then, my son. Do not fear, you shall find the right thing to be."
But, none of the animals the lion cub spoke to seemed quite right for him to be. Many told him he could not be like them at all, and others asked him to try things he could not do in order to prove himself. Some merely laughed and would not speak to him further, and still others did not even grant him this small courtesy. Many days passed, and many stories with his mother, until the lion cub began to think that he was indeed meant to be only a lion.
One such day, the lion cub came upon a small gathering of songbirds in a forest clearing. He had not spoken to them before, and so he called out in curiosity, "Hello, colourful songbirds! Would you speak with me a moment?"
"Hush!" cried one of the closest birds, "this is not the time for you to speak, but to listen! We are about to tell the day's stories, so listen and learn well, young lion cub!"
Intrigued, the lion cub sat on his haunches, looking up at the gathering of birds. He had never heard anything like this before, and he was interested to hear what the bird's had to say. Would these stories be like the ones he shared with his mother each night?
For a time, nothing happened, the shadows of the forest stretching long as the heat of the day gave way to the cool of the evening. Insects buzzed noisily in the surrounding foliage, and occasionally there was the yowl of a hunting leopard or hoot of playful monkeys, but otherwise all was quiet. Then, one of the birds spoke in a melodious voice. "We gather, brothers and sisters, to speak upon the tales learned this day! We will sing to all who will listen, so that all might learn wisdom from these stories, or be amused by their words. Speak now, brothers and sisters, tell us what tales you bring."
Around the circle of trees, birds began to twitter and shuffle, calling out their stories. "I bring a story of hyena and hare!" exclaimed one.
"A tale from far off lands, of creatures that swim swiftly and leap high out of the ocean waves!" called another.
"I have spoken with leopard," said a small bird with brilliant blue wings. "And learned how she tricks the men that try to hunt her!"
"I bring a story of those men," said a large, brown feathered bird, his plumage so drab that he was nearly invisible against his tree. "About a village chief who brought a blessing to his people."
All around the clearing, every bird possessed a different story to tell, some from places nearby, others from lands far away. Of animals and mountains and men and great villages. Of forests and caves and fish and eagles. Every sort of story was spoken of, and when they had all introduced themselves, the birds began to sing, weaving words of their tales together and spilling out the knowledge of the day. The young lion cub sat, fascinated by this great telling, unable to move from his spot, despite the growing darkness of the forest.
By the time the birds had finished, it had grown very late, but the lion cub could not leave without asking his question. "Wait!" he called, as the birds began to fly away. "Is this what it means to be a bird? To gather every day and speak of these marvellous stories?"
"Yes," trilled the large brown bird, ruffling his feathers. "We birds are the great chroniclers, flying far and wide to bring back new stories every day, for any to hear that wish to listen."
"The world is filled with stories to be told," added one bird with a shocking orange plumage. "We can never hope to gather them all. Do you wish to help with this task?"
"Yes!" cried the young lion cub, overjoyed at hearing this news. This was certainly the thing he had been searching for, and he was eager to learn what he must do. "How can I become like a bird and share in the telling of these stories?"
"You must learn how to sing!" proclaimed the first bird to speak, the one who had hushed the lion cub. "Our songs carry across the lands faster than even we can fly, and this is what you must learn if you are to assist us in gathering all the stories of the world. You must travel swiftly to find fresh stories to tell, so that you do not merely repeat what others have already told. Then you may join us in the trees and add your tales to ours. Can you do these things?"
The young lion cub grew serious upon hearing this, because he knew he could not fly like the birds could. But, perhaps he could find his own way of singing, of gathering and relating the things he learned to the birds. "I shall try my best," he said, drawing himself up as regally as he could manage. "I shall return here every night and learn, and see how I might become a bird like you."
All the birds sang happily upon hearing this, praising the young lion cub for his choice. They did not mind if he was a lion, or if he had been a boar or a crocodile or an elephant. They sought only to tell the stories they heard, and any of the animals were welcome to join. After the birds flew away to their homes for the night, the young lion cub hurried back to his den, anxious about how worried his mother might be, for it was quite late. Yet, in his heart he was very glad, for he had at last found what he wished to be.
______
The next day, the lion cub found a quiet place in the forest to practice singing his stories. At first, he could not manage much more than a few jangled notes, harsh and gravelly like the roars of a lion. It did not sound anything like the beautiful stories he had heard the birds singing the night before.
His attempts to sing of the crocodiles came out flat and tangled, much like he did when he would trip over his own paws. The story of the elephants was far too high pitched and off-key, and lost all of its original meaning. His effort to warble of the goat and the men of the village sounded so little like a song, that he gave up before he was halfway through.
"I do not have a voice like that of the birds," he said to himself, "just as I do not have wings to soar across the land. Who will listen to such a growling, unpleasant song?" Frustrated and dejected, he decided merely to wait for the birds to gather that evening, and listen to what they had to say.
The birds were happy to see him return, and welcomed him with wings aflutter and trills of delight. They were not upset that he did not yet have any stories to share with them, for he did not think any of them wished to hear his singing yet.
"Do not fear," they said, "you will learn, young lion cub. Listen to what we sing, and find your own voice to do the same."
So he listened, and heard tales of men who lived in glass houses, of elephants who tried to trick the baboons, of a lion like himself who befriended a girl from a village, and many other fantastic tales from places he had never been. The lion cub did not know if he had learned yet how to sing like the birds, but he was pleased that he had been able to hear the wonderful stories, and when he went home to sleep, his dreams were of all the places that he had never been, but had experienced through the songs.
The lion cub's mother was very pleased to learn that he had found what he wished to be, even though she had secretly hoped he would be content to be a lion. She encouraged him to follow the dreams he had received the night before, and to work hard to learn how to sing like the birds.
So, every day, the lion cub would go to his quiet place, where he would sing until he grew too tired to sing anymore. Then, as the day grew late, he would go to where the birds gathered, and listen to the new stories they brought with them. He learned many fantastic things, but none of the stories could teach him how a lion cub could sing like a bird. This was something he could only learn on his own.
At first, no one but the lion cub was around to hear his songs, as he was quite sure none of the other animals would want to listen to his warbling voice. He continued to speak to other animals, finding new stories to practice with, and trying new songs to find out how they were meant to be sung.
One of these times, three crows were sitting in the trees above the lion cub's quiet place. They did not speak, even when he called out to them, and they showed no signs of leaving from where they were. The lion cub decided that he would attempt his practice anyway, as the crows could certainly do no harm to his ambitions, and began his songs for the day.
The crows sat quietly throughout the lion cub's growls and chuffs and snarls, listening closely to the story he wove with his lion voice. They were not used to hearing lion songs, but the stories he told were much like those they were familiar with. When the lion cub had finished singing, he looked up at the crows, expecting them to laugh at his ugly attempts at singing, but the three crows merely ruffled their feathers and flew away, without saying a word.
The next day, there were five crows sitting in the trees, all waiting there when the lion cub arrived to practice. Once again, he tried calling out to them, asking them why they were in the place where he practiced, but they would not answer his questions. Somewhat annoyed by this, the lion cub decided that they would have to sit through his singing, and began the stories that he had found earlier that day. As before, the crows listened in silence, and at the end of his songs, they flew away, all without speaking a single word.
The young lion cub was quite confused by now. Surely the crows did not actually like the songs they were hearing? Or perhaps it was only the crows, for his songs were nothing like those the other birds could sing. Yes, he decided, that must be it. The crows had voices like his, and were content to listen to his songs, but it would never work with any of the other birds. Still, it was encouraging that he had the attention of the crows, and the young lion cub resolved to keep working at it until he had it right.
Yet, the next day, there were more than just crows waiting for him at his no-longer-quiet place. Several songbirds, a peacock, and even a hawk gathered about, watching him as he settled in for his practice. Worried about impressing all these gathered birds, the young lion cub tried as hard as he could, and missed some of the notes of his songs. Still, the birds did not laugh or mock, merely leaving as silently as they had come, some with thoughtful looks in their eyes.
That night, when the lion cub joined the songbirds in the forest, he attempted to give them a story of his own, in addition to all the beautiful songs they sang. They listened attentively as he spoke of the things he had learned from the cheetah, and they all congratulated him on his first song. The young lion cub's heart grew full from their praise, and he skipped happily back to his den, not once tripping over his own paws.
Each day now, when the lion cub went to the place he came to think of as his singing place, more birds of all kinds would be gathered there, waiting to hear what songs he would sing. Even the other animals began to gather there, and all who came would listen attentively to every note, even the ones he clumsily fumbled and lost.
The lion cub could not sing like the birds, for he was not a bird at all. He had no feathers to ruffle or wings to flap, and he did not trill and twitter and squawk. But, he sang instead with a voice all to his own, one that he had found through listening to the birds and sharing in the wonder of their stories, the same wonder that he himself felt when he heard their tales. It had not been easy, but at last the small, clumsy lion cub had learned to sing like a lion.
_________
FIN
This is me, this is who I am and what I do. This is my passion, my love, my creed.
_My only wish is to entertain you, to make you cry or laugh, to bring out tears or brilliant smiles. _
I make no claims of being things are not me, and I strive always to learn more, to excel and to exceed.
I hope you will not deny this small request, if my stories brought a hint of joy, or made_ boring moments fly._
If any words of mine have moved you, have touched your ears across countless miles,
_I ask no more than a single word, enough to let me know you heard, so please do not turn away without saying goodbye. _
Thank you all, for listening, and for giving me my place to sing.
This is me.
Music for this story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhCVazm3Pg It's not the perfect fit, perhaps, but I feel it worked well with the overall feel of the story itself.
Another song I picked out is by One Night Only, called Can you Feel it Tonight. This one did not matche the feel of the story so much, but it captures the general theme of it very well, so I include it here as well. :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHSgDausRPg