THE LION THAT WANTED TO BE APPRECIATED

When the Gods of The Great Unknown found themselves upon the task of creating a place where living creatures could spend their days in harmony, they skipped the creation of humans.

 

“We shouldn’t be foolish, the God of the Future has spoken to us in dreams and we know how it ends if we decide to create the humankind. We must skip them. For I believe wild animals are the ones who will most likely live in harmony” said the red haired Goddess.

 

“You’re right. Humankind could be the death of all bright things. But we can stop that if we skip their creation. They destroy everything they touch. I pity them” said the long haired God.

 

And so the Gods of The Great Unknown created a place they named “Planet Earth”. In this said planet, wild animals lived. There were all kinds of fish in the blue oceans and the rest of the animals fed themselves with them. The rich lands were populated by beautiful zebras, powerful tigers, enormous lions, wise deer, and all sorts of other creatures. These animals lived happily among one another, they thought of the other animals as friends and companions.

 

One day, a beautiful and collected zebra was wandering by herself by a river, thinking of nothing. Close behind her, was a wild lion who had decided to visit the river, for the sadness he felt in his heart was eating him alive.

 

They eventually found each other.

 

“Why are you wandering all by yourself?”

 

“I wanted to cool down, I needed a break from other lions, my friends and family. I need to rest”

 

“I know what you mean. I love the other zebras, but sometimes everything tires me and I need a break. Nonetheless, I live happily and easily.”

 

“I live happily and easily too. But lately I’ve been feeling like I’m missing something. I’m not that sure, but I believe it may be love. I see the way other lions have fallen in love with lionesses. I had tried very hard but I just can’t fall in love with any lioness”.

 

“You don’t like the lionesses?”

 

“I do, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my days with them”.

 

“Well, I must admit what you’re saying is odd. I have never seen a zebra, for example, fall in love with a tiger. I have never seen a lion, fall in love with a zebra, or a deer, or any creature other than a lioness. That simply can’t be. Zebras fall in love with zebras, lions with lionesses, and so on”.

 

The Lion changed the subject and they coolly continued their conversation until they went their separate ways.

 

But what the Zebra didn’t know was that after that brief, at first sight unimportant conversation she held with the Lion, he had fallen for her.

 The Lion found himself madly in love with the Zebra he encountered that day in the river. But he couldn’t get the wise, true words she said out of his head. “Zebras fall in love with zebras, lions with lionesses...”

 

And so this ends with the brutal end of the world as wild animals once knew it. The harmony that ruled their lives ended when the Lion, blinded by his broken heart and unrequited love, decided to attack every single animal around him in their sleep, biting them to death with his tusks.

 

After biting and killing every animal, he left their bleeding bodies there and abandoned the once rich but now empty land he called home, in search of a new one.

View mariateresa's Full Portfolio