The Lion in the Well
A lion came to the jungle. "I am HUNGRY," he roared. All the animals shook with fear!
"You will send me one animal each day to eat," growled the lion. "If you do not do this, I will eat all of you!"
The animals began to talk among themselves about who should be eaten first. "Not me,” said the deer.
"Not me," said the goat!
"Not me," said the wolf. Then everyone looked at the rabbit.
"I will go to the lion," said the rabbit. But, the lion will not eat any of us. He hopped away and ran and ran in circles until he was covered in sweat. Then the rabbit ran to where the lion was waiting.
"I am so sorry to be late," said rabbit, to the lion. I had to run and run to get away from the other lion. He wanted to eat me. But, I told him that I belonged to you."
"Other lion?" the lion said. "What other lion?
"Oh, he is big," said the rabbit. "He is much bigger than you. Go ahead and eat me now."
"Bigger than me?" the lion asked.
"Yes, much bigger," answered the rabbit. "He wanted to eat me, but, I told him that I was your dinner. Go ahead and eat me!"
"Show me this other lion, and I will spare your life," said the lion.
The rabbit took the lion to the well. "Look into the well," said the rabbit. "You will see the other tiger.
The lion looked into the well. He saw a lion at the bottom of the well. At least he thought he saw a lion. "What are you doing here?" asked the lion.
"What are you doing here?" a voice answered from the well.
"This is my jungle."
"This is my jungle," the voice answered back.
"No it isn't."
"No it isn't."
"I will eat you!"
"I will eat you!"
The lion kept shouting into the well. The voice shouted back. Finally the lion jumped into the well. He was never seen again, and the rabbit hopped away very happy! None of the animals were eaten by the lion.
Dr. Mike Lockett is an educator, storyteller and children's author from Normal, IL. Dr. Lockett has given more than 4000 programs across the USA and as far away as eastern Asia. Contact Mike by writing to Mike@mikelockett.com in order to book him for a storytelling program or young authors program or to inquire about purchasing his books and CDs. More stories and information about storytelling can be found at www.mikelockett.com