LEO & LYRA – Part 1

There once was a grey, rainy, cold little town in which everyone was mean and cruel and selfish;
where nobody cared about or even knew their neighbour very well and people never waved or said hello in the street but only scowled when they saw each other and muttered something offensive under their breath.

Even the little children in that town were mean and would only play mean games like breaking people’s windows or bullying weaker, smaller children just for fun.

In fact, about the only person who wasn’t mean in that whole town was a little six year old girl called Lyra.

Lyra had never understood why everyone in her town; even her own parents, were so mean and it always made her cry to see the meanness of others.

Then, one day, Lyra was walking down one of the little grey streets of her little grey town when she saw a lion who was locked in an iron cage.

Lyra had only ever seen Lions in books or on television and had imagined that they were all fierce and scary but this lion was neither. In fact, this lion was very beautiful, with golden fur all over and bright green eyes and a big bushy golden mane but this lion was also very sad because, all around the cage, there were mean people laughing and jeering at him and prodding him with sticks.

“Why those awful, awful people”, thought Lyra, crying, “And that poor, poor lion. How could they be so cruel to such a beautiful creature?”.

Then, moved by the tears that the lion was shedding, Lyra made a wish inside her heart, “Oh, I wish, I wish”, she sobbed, “I wish that that Lion could be free of its terrible cage. Then those cruel people wouldn’t be so brave with their jeers and their jabbing”.

And, suddenly, something truly magical happened for, as soon as Lyra had made this wish, the cage
around the lion started to glow all different kinds of bright colours; red, green, blue, yellow, orange, pink and purple and, after it had glowed purple, the cage began to vanish altogether.

Seeing that the cage was gone and that the lion was now free, the mean, cruel townsfolk dropped their wooden prodding sticks and started to become very afraid, screaming and shaking and fainting and yelling, “Help! Help! A lion is loose! A lion is loose!”.

And then the lion gave out a loud and most ferocious roar and all those who had not fainted or run away already now fled like terrified and timid mice.

Lyra was happy to see the lion free from his cage, although, when the Lion started to walk slowly towards her, she herself became quite afraid.

“What if the lion eats me?”, she thought, shivering.

But the lion was not a frightening sort of lion and he told Lyra, “Please, do not be afraid, little girl. I would not harm you and I know that it was your wish from your good heart which set me free”.

“My name is Lyra”, said Lyra, realizing that the lion was a gentle sort of lion and that there was no need to fear him.

“Ahh! That is a lovely name”, said the Lion, smiling, “My name is Leo and I am one of the stars of the zodiac. I fell to Earth, you see, tripped over the tail of a clumsy comet and bumped my head as I fell. The bump was so hard that it knocked me quite unconscious and, when I awoke, I discovered that some cruel man had locked me in a cage and was charging people money just to mock me and torment me but then your good heart and your kind wish set me free and while there are little girls such as you I believe that there is hope in the world”.

“Well”, said Lyra, reaching up and stroking the lions golden mane, “I’m very happy that you are free now, Mr Lion, and that you can go back to your home up in the sky. I don’t know why everyone in this town has to be so mean. Even my parents are very mean”.

Hearing this made the lion very sad for Lyra, “Oh, I am sorry to hear that”, he said, “But if you wish to, you may come and live with me in my palace among the stars”.

Lyra said that she liked that idea very much and so Leo crouched down and Lyra climbed onto his back and then, giving out a mighty, thunderous roar, the lion leapt up high into the sky, through
the clouds and beyond the moon to his glittering star palace.

And there he gave Lyra a beautiful crown of star crystals to wear upon her head, “You are an honorary star princess now, Lyra and so you must have a magic crown”.

To be continued….