06 - Lion
This happened last week: The weather forecast had been quite wrong again. This led to Little Red having to walk through the forest an entire day dressed in a raincoat. Even though the sun didn't shine through the dense forest, it was very hot, and Little Red was sweating a lot that day.
As if her recent dangers wasn't enough, Little Red was now facing what possibly posed a greater danger than before on her trek through the forest that was full of trees. A lion squatted in front of her, looking at her with sad eyes.
Nobody said anything for a while. In the end Little Red broke off the stare and muttered, "Uhm." Immediately the lion seemed to come into life. "Roar," he said in what quite possibly was the most pathetic lion roar in the history of the universe.
Surprised, Little Red looked at the lion. He looked very afraid, shivering as he was. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"Roar," said the lion.
"No, didn't think so. What's the matter?"
"Roar."
"You're lost?"
"Roar."
"Oh. But where are you going?"
"Roar."
"Right. And in what direction is that?"
"Uh, roar?"
"Uhm, no I suppose you wouldn't know, being lost and all."
"Roar," nodded the lion.
"Anyway, I thought lions belonged on the savannah."
"Roar."
"Really? This forest just came trampling across it and swallowed it? All of it? Just like that?"
"Roar," the lion said sadly. He had lost all friends and family in the tragedy.
The lion looked at her, and asked, "Roar?"
"Look, don't be afraid of me." Little Red was shocked that something so large seemed to be afraid of a little girl such as herself. "Can I cuddle you?"
"ROAR!" roared the lion, finally in a voice worthy of a true lion. It bared a row of glittering white razorsharp teeth in a grin so big it threatened to rip its head apart. But it wasn't the dangerous Grin of Hunger. It was the Grin of Sadness. Little Red went over to the lion, hugged it and cried with it.
The little river that came into being from this little session of crying flourished temporarily, then vanished without a trace. A few thousand years later legend would have it that once upon a time there had been a river in the forest that vanished without a trace.
"Roar," said the lion, happy all its burdens had been cried away.
"Roar," mimicked Little Red. The lion chuckled and fondled Little Red's hair gingerly.
"Say," said Little Red, "could you stay with me overnight, maybe? You could watch over me. Please?"
"Roar." It was a done deal.
And they slept soundly through the night, safe from any danger.