Story: "The Lion in Love"

Once upon a time, in a deep forest, there lives a ferocious lion, named Mighty. He is well-known for his razor-sharped claws and unbreakable bite. All the animals fear his presence, but Mighty enjoys his power over all beings.

One day, as he takes his daily walk around his territory, he strolls near the river where the two alligators are talking.

Alligator A: “Hey buddy, have you heard about the Wise One?”

Alligator B: “Who is that? What is so special about him?”

Alligator A: “The rumor said that the Wise One is the old monkey, living in the biggest tree in this forest, and I heard that his knowledge is more powerful than our king, Mighty. He can even predict the future.”

Alligator B: “What is knowledge? I want to know if he is tasty.”

Alligator A: “Dummy, if he is powerful as the rumor said, there is no way we can eat him. Since you brought it up, it makes me curious too. I think he will taste…”

After overheard the alligators’ conversation, Mighty becomes curious about this “Wise One”, thinking if the “Wise One” is truly powerful as the alligators said. To satisfy his curiosity, Mighty decides to give this “Wise One” a visit, and if it is necessary, Mighty doesn’t mind challenge the “Wise One” to reaffirm his position as the sole ruler of this forest.

When he arrived at the biggest tree in the forest, he sees an old, wrinkle monkey.

Mighty: “Are you the ‘Wise One’?”

Wise One: “I am, My King.”

Mighty: “Since you proclaimed me as your king, this means you succumb to my power. Now, I am curious if you can see the future like what the rumor said you can.”

Wise One: “Yes, I can see the future, but the future can be change.”

Mighty: “Tell me, how long will my power continues?”

Wise One: “Since one day you will die, there will be a time that your power will cease.”

Mighty: “When is the time that my power will cease?”

Wise One: “One day you will meet your fated one. You will fall deeply in love her, and because of her, you will give up your power.”

Mighty: “Nonsense! There is no such thing! Because of your obedience, I forgive your foolish lies, but do not tell anybody else. Or I will come back to claim your life.”

Although Mighty walked away, the Wise One’s words rooted in his mind. As the time passed, Mighty becomes anxious and short-tempered. He separated himself from his pride especially away from the lionesses, but this does not ease his mind. So, he decides to move to the forest’s border, where many humans reside, thinking this will be safe for his power.

In the new place, Mighty comes across a young maiden who walked pass his new territory to fetch water. Separating from the forest’s animals, Mighty grows lonely, and so, watching the maiden passing by becomes his favorite time of the day. As the time passed, he becomes more eager to see the maiden’s appearance. When the winter arrives, the maiden appears less and less. Mighty becomes more restless. He realized he can’t live without seeing her, and so, he decided to marry the maiden.

One day, the maiden passes by to fetch her water, and Mighty follows her home. He stands in front of the maiden’s parents and asks to marry the maiden.

Mighty: “I fell in love with your daughter, and I want to marry her.”

Maiden’s Parents: “Dear mighty lion, we afraid our daughter is too fragile for your touch. We will agree if you let us clip your claws and remove your teeth because it will be safer for our daughter.”

Mighty is so deeply in love that he agreed. After they done with his teeth and claws, they refused to marry off their daughter.

Maiden’s Parents: “We do not want to marry our daughter to a beast like you. Go away!”

Angered by their words, Might want to use his claws to slash them, but he looked down at his feet and realized his claws are clipped.

Maiden’s Parents laughed: “Without your teeth and claws, you are nothing more than a big cat. Now, go back to where you belong before we beat you.”

After being shooed away by the maiden’s parents, Mighty walked aimlessly back to the forest. Greeting him are the ridicules and mocking laughs of other animals. Now, he realized that he meets the fate that he was running away from.

Crying for his fate, he comes to the Wise One to ask for help.

Mighty: “Dear Wise One, is there anything you can do to help me escape my fate?”

Wise One: “There is no escape in life. The more you want to running away from it is the faster you meet up with your fate. This is what you did before, and your current state is the result of your hiding. Facing your problem is a better choice than hiding from it.”

From that moment on, Mighty moves back to the forest. After a series of mockeries and challenges, he finally gets accepted back to the pride. Although he will no longer physically powerful, his mind becomes stronger.

 

The Lion in Love. Source: Web

Author’s Note:

This is the original version:

A Lion once fell in love with a beautiful maiden and proposed marriage to her parents.

The old people did not know what to say.

They did not like to give their daughter to the Lion, yet they did not wish to enrage the King of Beasts.

At last the father said:

"We feel highly honoured by your Majesty's proposal, but you see our daughter is a tender young thing, and we fear that in the vehemence of your affection you might possibly do her some injury. Might I venture to suggest that your Majesty should have your claws removed, and your teeth extracted, then we would gladly consider your proposal again."

The Lion was so much in love that he had his claws trimmed and his big teeth taken out.

But when he came again to the parents of the young girl they simply laughed in his face, and bade him do his worst.

Love can tame the wildest.



Bibliography. “The Lion in Love” from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source

I incorporated some other elements to story like the monkey “Wise One”. I got the idea for this character from Rafiki in The Lion King. I based encounter between the Mighty and Wise One from Oedipus. Like Oedipus’ father tried to escape from the prophecy, leading the tragedy, Mighty did the same to save his power, but he ends up fulfilling the prediction. However, I don’t want the story to have a very sad ending, and so, I let Mighty back to his pride and hope he finds a new goal in his life.