A Lions' Tale

I was a king, once. It was a long time ago. So long that I can barely remember it. I was captured by my enemies and put in a dark, stone prison. The good news is they put my whole family in here with me. The bad news is, they put my whole family in here with me. I can only be grateful no one was killed when we were captured, although I'm beginning to believe killing us might have been a kindness compared to this.

This prison of ours is small. There's hardly enough room to walk around and that's not good, especially for the younger ones. They need to run and play, exercise those young muscles. And the jailers rarely feed us, only small bits every now and again. I overheard one say keeping us hungry is what makes us mean. He has no idea!

One day three men came to visit my family and me. The men had villainous faces and leered at us through the grate over the opening above us. My family crowded toward the back wall of our prison, as far away as they could get.

I stood my ground, glaring up and snarling at them. I'd come to somewhat understand the difficult language of men during our time here and these men whispered and snickered, saying how someone named Daniel was in deep trouble. None of us liked these three men, they wore evil about them like a cloak, and we were all relieved when they left.

Over the next few days they returned time and again, gloating each time over this Daniel. They wouldn't allow our jailers to even feed us the small amounts we usually received. They kept repeating that they wanted us mean. Desperate was more like it. More and more, fighting would break out as the desperate and despairing attacked the weaker members, looking for any kind of food.

My family was coming apart.

Then, one morning, the grate in the ceiling was pulled away. If we hadn't been half starved, my family and I could have attempted an escape. The opening was high, but not too high for a healthy, well-fed lion. As it was, we were too weak. But not too weak for what we knew was coming. Food!

Normally, I don't hold with killing humans. They aren't really worth the trouble since they don't usually have enough meat on them, but these were desperate times. I snarled at my family to remind them who was king. They snarled in return, but backed up... barely. We heard the people approach the opening and crouched in anticipation. It would be a fight just to get a bite off him.

As the victims' shadow fell across the opening, we heard a male voice speaking. It was a gentle, yet compelling voice and we understood every word because He spoke to us in our own language. He could do that since He was our Creator.

He explained that we couldn't eat what was coming down but, if we were patient, we'd have an excellent meal the next day. Then, oh so kindly, He said He was sorry, but He was going to have to lock our jaws shut and a warm hand glided gently along the jaw of each one of us. Like that, I couldn't so much as yawn.

One of the very young ones was confused and hungry and it whimpered. The Creator smiled tenderly and said no one would feel hunger until the promised meal tomorrow, then asked us to take care of the man who had just landed among us.

Amazingly, none of us felt fear, anger or even hunger. We were all at peace in the Creators' Presence and turned to face the stranger. His arms were bound but he'd managed to rise to his knees. To my surprise, he saw the Creator and bowed to Him. The Creator spoke to the human in his own tongue, explaining things I'm sure.

To prove we meant no harm, I had everyone lie down while I went over and carefully chewed through the bindings. Not an easy task since my jaws were restricted, but I didn't mind. The Creator had His reasons. This man we were to care for seemed astonished, grateful and even amused.

Once he was freed, I nudged him toward my family. He rose and moved over to them then stood there as if he were confused so I swatted his legs to make him sit down. For a moment, fear rolled off him as he thought we were going to eat him after all. The females began to sing the sleep-song that they use on fussy cubs and he relaxed once more. I could feel the Creators' approval as we settled around this human of His and sang him to sleep.

We all slept deeply through the night with no bad dreams or hunger pangs. What finally woke us early the next morning was the worried, frightened voice of a human male from the opening above. The human kept calling the name "Daniel" and asking if his God had protected him.

Suddenly, as if he'd been clawed, the human we'd comforted shot to his feet. He moved under the opening and called up that he was ok, God (which I realized was his word for the Creator) had shut the lions' mouths.

A rope was lowered as shouting went on above. My family and I rose and went over to the man we'd begun to think of as "our" human. Silence fell as the humans above us watched Daniel pet each of us in gratitude and pause to praise the Creator for His benevolence, then he was being lifted away.

Once Daniel disappeared there was a huge commotion, louder than the last time we had a family fight, and three bodies fell, screaming, through the opening. At the very moment we recognized them as the three who'd not let us eat and gloated over Daniels' being in trouble, we also remembered the Creators' promise of an excellent meal.

It all happened in mere moments, from the time they began to fall, to our recognition of them and the return of our hunger, to our feast. I won't give you all the details, but I will say that, between my greedy family and me, those men never even hit the ground. It was as if, along with the return of our hunger pains, the Creator had increased our speed and reflexes.

A few nights later our human, Daniel, returned to our prison. He had another male with him and that one held our jailers keys. It took great effort from both, but they unlocked the door of our prison. Once more my family and I felt the Creators' Presence, although Daniel didn't seem to notice, and we remained calm. By the time the two humans had unlocked the door my family had gathered behind me, tails twitching with anticipation.

Daniel had to reassure his friend but they both tugged the door open. Daniel greeted each of us as we came out, rubbing his face to ours and scratching ears. The other human watched in fear and awe, but I'll give him credit for not running. Daniel led us to a room with meat in it. It wasn't a lot, but we'd eaten pretty well a couple of days ago and, if what I thought was up really was, we didn't want to be too full.

Once the food was gone, Daniel led us along a deserted hallway. We could smell other humans behind the doors, but the Creators' Presence kept us all calm. Only once was there almost a problem. One of the human jailers got too curious and opened his door.

He was shocked to see a hall full of lions, but even more so to see the two humans with us. He reached for his artificial claw, what they call a sword, but Daniels' friend made a face and gave a growl that would have made a lion proud. Whatever message his growl conveyed, the jailer-type dropped his sword and slammed the door. I rubbed my face against Daniels' friend in approval. He looked startled, then gently stroked my mane, a smile on his face.

Finally we came to a set of huge doors. Again, it took both men to open them, but it wasn't as big a struggle as before. Once the doors opened, we could see they led outside to the nearby forest. My family hurried past me, moving as quickly as they could for the saftey of the woods. I stopped by Daniel and we just looked at each other.

After a long moment, Daniel leaned down and gently stroked my muzzle and under my chin. I let him because I could feel that the Creator still wanted me to care for this human.

Once he was done I licked his hand, turned and headed slowly out the door. Pausing, I lifted my head and took a deep breath. All the scents and odors came rushing deeply into my sensitive nose and the sharpest scent of all was the scent of freedom. I glanced back at Daniel one last time before heading after my family. The Creators' Presence was fading once more, but I understood His message.

I was a king again.