شیرزن

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Heroine

We are sitting on the grass. ‘Can you see any elephants’ Bill asks me.

‘No, I can’t,’ I say.

‘Are there any giraffes’ he asks again.

I look around. Now there are some giraffes close to us. I can even see Spotty and his mum.

‘Yes,’ I say.

Suddenly Bill says:

‘We’re so dirty. Let’s go home now. Tomorrow we can take some carrots and apples with us.’

‘A great idea,’ I say. ‘We should take some cabbages and watermelons, too. They’re giraffes’ favourite food.’

‘Are you crazy’ Bill cries. ‘How can we take them? They’re so heavy!’

‘We can roll them,’ I say.

Bill is looking at me. I don’t like his face. I think, now he understands what I am doing here.

‘Jack’ he cries. ‘Why are you here with me? First, you roar like a lioness. Then you have that silly idea to tie the mother giraffe. And now.’

He doesn’t finish because we can hear a terrible roar. And this time it is real! It’s the roar of an angry lioness. We look back. We can see her.

The lioness looks at us, then at the giraffes and again at us. She is thinking which to eat. Bill’s face is white. I think mine is white too. We are too afraid. We start shaking. Suddenly Spotty’s mum runs at the lioness. Her son is running between her legs. When they come up to the angry animal, the mother puts up her front legs.

The lioness is afraid. She starts jumping around the giraffes. But the mother always turns with her front legs to her and tries to kick.

Hooray! The lioness is too tired now. She can’t fight anymore. She turns round and runs away. Spotty is looking at his brave mother.

I look at Bill. He looks strange. Suddenly he gets up and walks to the giraffes. Does he want to catch them now when they are too tired? But Bill stops and puts his head and half of his body down. Oh, I understand! He is saying “thank you” to the brave mother.

‘Mum, it’s that strange animal again,’ says Spotty.

‘Yes, but it’s smiling at us, and it hasn’t got a long tongue in its mouth.’

‘And there’s no tree in his neck,’ says Spotty. ‘Poor animal! It can’t live long without a tongue.’

Spotty turns to a bush, takes some leaves with his tongue and gives them to the strange animal.

‘You can always come here,’ he says, ‘and I can give you tasty leaves. Eat them and live long.’

‘Look, Jack. Your Spotty is giving me a present. Giraffes are so nice!’ Bill takes the leaves. He looks so funny. I like him now.