Participating Schools
The Lion, The Queen and the Forest
Once there was a princess from Africa and she met a prince and they married. So she was Queen and he was King. Before they got married, the Princess was attacked by a thief and a lion saved her. She took the lion home and they became the best of friends. The lion was golden brown, with a yellow mane. The Queen was rich and she lived in a gold palace near a forest, with the King. The lion lived in a big garden and he was fed 12oz sirloin steak everyday. They were very happy together. The guards were jealous of the Queen and the lion. The King was even more jealous because he thought the Queen loved the lion more than him, which was true. The Queen did love the lion more than him.
A couple of months later, the lion got stronger and the guards got jealous because the lion was doing the guards’ jobs. So the guards decided to poke him with their really sharp, fierce spears, with pointy ends, even sharper than a shark’s tooth. When the Queen went out for the day, the King and the guards threw the lion out for no reason. When the Queen came back, she went looking for the lion.
She searched through the palace, because she couldn’t find the lion anywhere. The Queen looked at the King and asked, “Where is my lion?”
“I threw him out darling, because he bit one of the guards!” replied the King, with a voice like he didn’t care.
“What? My lion would never do anything like that, ever!”
So the Queen left feeling really sad. The King called for the guards to get this silly idea out of her head. They tried everything that they could think of. They were trying to calm her down, telling her to come in and they told her that the lion was not important. But….it was no use, the Queen never gave up. She told them how the lion had saved her life. So she wanted to do something for the lion, because the lion had done something for her. The guards were more jealous now than before. The guards immediately locked all the gates and surrounded her on the green grass. The Queen struggled to get out, but she couldn’t because her necklace had got stuck on the wire.
So the Queen screamed, “My necklace, my £100,000 necklace!”
The guards immediately ran to get her necklace, because it was worth so much money. While they were distracted, the Queen sprinted to the nearest gate and climbed over.
The Queen ran off into the deep, dark, scary forest to search for the lion.
“Go and get the Queen,” shouted the King.
The King sent about one hundred guards to get the Queen and kill the lion. The guards got closer and closer to the Queen and the lion, who could hear the guards close by.
“We’d better get away from the guards before we get killed,” said the Queen.
Suddenly one of the guards walked up close behind them, so the lion roared,
“ROOAARRRRR!”
The guard ran back to the other guards, scared for his life.
It was a very windy day and the lion’s fur was being blow back and for in the wind. The wind was whistling all around them, making the trees sway and the leaves twirl. The Queen was very scared by the noise, but she was even more scared that the guards would find them and kill them.
The lion and the Queen had nowhere to run. They were surrounded in the jungle.
Then suddenly, they found a cave.
They crept in, scared but relieved that they were away from the soldiers. The cave was dark and damp and they couldn’t see anything. All they could hear was water dripping from the roof and scuttling sounds.
As their eyes adjusted to the darkness around them, it became clear where the scuttling was coming from. They were surrounded by spiders. Big, fat, hairy spiders with long legs. Crawling all around the cave.
The Queen was scared of spiders. More than she was scared of the guards. What were they going to do? She dropped to the floor in tears – it was hopeless. All of a sudden, something caught her eye, slightly embedded into the ground. It was shiny……it was a key!!
The Queen began to cry, softly at first and then her wailing began. The lion looked at her sadly and then began scrapping at the wall, hoping for a miracle. Then it happened.
They saw it faintly at first, but then it began to glow and was so bright they couldn’t believe they had never seen it. It was a keyhole.
“The key!” exclaimed the Queen.
She picked up the key and slowly turned it in the lock, afraid of what might happen, but realising she had no choice but to try it. All of a sudden, the wall opened and beyond them laid a shimmering darkness. With no other choice, they entered the darkness, with the Queen clinging to the lion’s mane.
They had escaped from the cave into…..a beautiful jungle. They looked around puzzled. Where were they?
“We’re in Africa! I’m home!” the Queen almost cried in delight. She was free and so was the lion.
The Queen and the lion stayed in Africa, away from the guards and the nasty King. She made a palace for herself with a beautiful jungle, where the lion was free to roam. They were both extremely happy.
One day, the Queen met a pretty young boy called Arthur. He had brown hair and green eyes. He treated the Queen well and he loved the lion. They got married and Arthur became King. The lion became Prince of All Lions, because he was the bravest and kindest lion in all of Africa.
They all lived happily every after.
Pontybrenin | Townhill