Without a word, she dropped to the ground. She was no longer in fear; she knew that the lion could never frighten her again.
This is the story of a mountain lion who, one day while walking through the wood, spied a clever and alluring young raven perched high in a tree. He was immediately captivated, and fell madly in love with her. He was so smitten that he immediately asked for her hand in marriage. He asked her to come down from her high branch so that they might live together in wedded bliss for the rest of their days.
She declined. And offered, by way of explanation, that she would not live her life in constant fear. Fear of having such a powerful and dangerous mate. Fear of being crushed or torn to pieces by the lion whilst in the throes of passion.
But the lion pressed, so smitten was he, “What can I do to prove my devotion to you, fair raven?”
The clever raven thought and finally offered the lion a challenge that she hoped would dissuade him, “You can prove your devotion by bringing me a gift. Bring me food.” She believed that he would fail and this would discourage further advances.”
The lion turned and dashed into the forest. The next morning when the raven awoke she looked down and spied the lion with a dead stag clutched in his maw. He dropped the deer when he spoke, “My love, I have brought you a deer. There is no finer meal to be found in the forest than fresh deer.”
“Oh my,” said the raven. “Birds, such as I, do not eat deer, we eat fruit, berries, grains and small animals but nothing so large as this. This will never do. I cannot marry you lion. You would never understand me.”
But, the lion would not be discouraged, and he continued to press. To the great dismay of the clever and alluring young raven, his attentions even increased. Each morning she would wake to find dead animals and other prizes stacked at the base of her tree but, she continued to spurn the advances of her eager suitor. Then one morning upon awakening the raven found the lion silently scaling her tree. She feared for her life and knew she must do something to permanently discourage his amour. The lion was nearly upon her when she raised her wings to ensure his attention and she spoke, “Alright good sir. I will wed thee but, your great teeth and your long claws frighten me. Prove your devotion by having your teeth pulled and your claws shorn to the nub. Do these things and I will join you in matrimony.”
The lion looked fixedly at the object of his desires, grinned toothily, and climbed down from the raven’s tree, which he had ascended. “Wait here my love, I will return in haste.”
But, he was gone for three days. On the morning of the fourth day the raven awoke to find her paramour pacing at the base of her tree. “Good morning sir,” she squawked down to him. “Have you heeded my wishes? Are we to be wed?”
He looked at her perched high above and smiled. Truly he had not a single tooth left in his head. “See how much I love you,” he crooned.
“Come up here and let me get a closer look,” the clever raven implored.
The lion leapt onto the trunk of the tree and immediately dropped again to the ground. He did this time and time again. The raven could see that his fearsome grapnels had been shorn and he could not gain purchase to climb the tree. Not even nubs remained where his mighty claws had once been. Without teeth or claws the lion was harmless; the clever and alluring raven looked down at him and without a word, she dropped to the ground. She was no longer afraid, she knew that the lion could never frighten her again.
Here are the rules:
• Your post must be dated March 30, 2014, or later.
• Submissions must be 750 words or fewer.
• Submissions must be fiction or poetry.
• You must include the following sentence as the FIRST line of your submission: “Without a word, she dropped to the ground.”
• You must also include a reference to the media prompt.
This is what true love means, I’d say.I enjoyed reading it thank you.
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thank you 802!
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Great tale. You have lots of different styles!
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I don’t want you to get bored Frankie! Besides, isn’t that the way animals talk when speaking English?
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haha. But seriously, that’s a pretty neat gift.
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Thanks, man.
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What a sweet tale. That’s a story I would enjoy reading to my grandchildren. Great job with the prompts.
Blessings,
Cheryl
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Please feel free to share it if you think your grandchildren would enjoy. Thanks for the encouragement.
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Great job, I was thoroughly entertained. It reminded me of the motivational stories for children – the ones with a moral to the tale. Clever use of the prompt.
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Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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I guess the lion did indeed love the raven. Most cats would say forget and move on (or eat the bird!)
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If I had let the bird be eaten the story would have been significantly shorter. What fun would that have been? Thanks for reading.
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I love the parable, it’s really great- it reminds me of reading Aesop’s Fables when I was younger. And, I’m a sucker for lines like ‘whilst in the throes of passion’. Highly entertaining.
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I actually went back and edited that line to include “whilst”. It just seemed to fit the tone of the story.
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This is an interesting spin on the trickster Raven. 🙂
Normally, Raven is motivated by greed (food-based greed, as in the story of how Crow lost his voice) and demonstrates no fear or attachment to emotional outcomes.
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Mollie – you have piqued my interest. Forgive this long winded response to your comment but I want to learn more. First off, I know nothing of Raven’s traditional motivation. I was simply writing the characters from the picture prompt. My ignorance knows no bounds but, I would like to learn more if you can point me in the right direction.
You mention “How Crow Lost his Voice” and I vaguely recall a story that might be the one to which you refer but I remember no details. I do remember a native American story about Rainbow Crow, who lost his color and his voice when he was burned, bringing fire to earth from the Sky Spirit. This selfless act earns Crow a promise that he will never be hunted by man. But I don’t think this is the one you are referring to. In this story his motivation is a desire to help.
Tell me more please.
And, thanks for reading. I appreciate it!
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What a great take on the prompts! Is it bad that I feel a little sorry for the lion? 🙂
I love the bit at the beginning where she explains why she’s turning him down. Creative and entertaining story!
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Thanks Suzanne – I feel a little bad for the poor lion too! I am happy that lots of people seem to have been entertained by this bit of nonsense. But the best part is that I am learning new things too!
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I feel SO sorry for the lion. How mean! 🙂
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I love that you went for the fable here. A great image. Very fun!
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Thanks for the kind words
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Wow, what a super interesting take on the prompt! The whole story had a kind of Aesop’s fable feel to it, and I completely loved that, it captured my attention till the very end! Well done!
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Thanks. I am happy that you were entertained. That was my goal!
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🙂
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What a cute and creative take on the prompt-just loved it 🙂
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Thank you so much!
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🙂
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Such a clever Raven. This reads much like one of Aesop’s Fables. This is really well written and thought out. You had me wondering how it would end the whole way. Love this!
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Thanks the fable feel is kinda what I was going for. The photo seemed to call out for animal interaction and those old stories did this well.
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I’m with the above commenters; this had a very Aesopian feel to it. 🙂
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It seems to have worked!
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