Week 2 Story: "The Lion in Love"

Lioness

Marie Rosalie (Rosa) Bonheur, 1879. Web Source.

    There once was a beautiful young man who lived with his parents in a small hamlet at the edge of a forest. One day, as he was heading home after a long walk, he felt that someone was watching him. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked all around him, but could see no one. His mind still uneasy, he kept going. 

    Meanwhile, a lioness watched him from behind the trees. She had fallen deeply in love with the young man, but was uneasy about speaking directly to him. As he neared his house, she sprang out from behind the trees, hoping to impress him. Instead, he gave a shriek and ran into his house, slamming the door. Embarrassed, the lioness slowly retreated into the woods.

    On the next day, the lioness watched the man again as he went about his daily tasks. Bearing in mind the failure of the previous day, she decided to try a new approach. Waiting until he walked into the house and closed the door, the lioness licked her paws, groomer her face, approached the door, and knocked. 

    The man's father opened the door, and was shocked to see the lioness sitting meekly on his doorstep. Wasting no time, the lioness launched into speech. 

"My good sir, I have seen your son many times out in the wilderness, and have seen his beautiful face, kind heart, and gentle spirit. I have fallen deeply in love with him, and would beg of you his hand in marriage."

    The father was stunned. He didn't know what to do. He was hesitant to give his son to such a wild creature, but he looked down at the lioness's fearsome claws and feared to say no. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"My good madam, I would love to give you my son, but I have one request before I do so. Your claws and teeth, while excellent for hunting prey, are fearsome to man. If you would have my son, I pray that you would remove your teeth and file down your claws. Only then will he feel safe marrying you."

    The lioness, infatuated with love, willingly acquiesced. She immediately departed to find someone able to remove her teeth and file her claws for her. As soon as the deed was done, she returned to the house, expecting her groom to be happily awaiting her. Instead, when she knocked on the door and presented herself, the father looked at her and laughed.

    "I am very sorry to tell you this," he choked out, "but my son will not be marrying you."

    Shocked and hurt, the lioness asked, "Why not? I have done all that you asked! I removed my teeth, I filed my claws, and I am still not to have my groom?"

    "No, you will not have him. And what can you do about it?"

    Realizing her foolishness, the lioness immediately turned and ran away.

. . .

    The next several years were painful for the lioness. She was rejected from her pride, due to her betrayal of her lion mate and her inability to hunt. She survived, barely, fueled by her anger and humiliation. Slowly, over time, her claws began to grow back. She still had no teeth, but she began adapting, learning first how to take down small, sickly prey, and shred it to pieces suitable for her gummy mouth. But she began to take on larger and larger game, and finally felt that, despite her deformed appearance, she had gained a new set of skills that left her just as capable a hunter as she had been before. And she was determined to have her revenge. As she watched a middle aged man caring for his elderly parents, wife cooking dinner, and children running through the grass, she determined that she would have just that.


Author's Note: I had a few sources of inspiration for the changes I made to the story. First of all, I did a gender flip because, in nature, it is the lionesses who do the hunting, and thus I felt would be more intimidating to encounter. I also wanted to highlight a couple things based on my reading notes from the story: namely, the fact that the "love" is not true love, but rather a very strong infatuation; secondly, I wanted to see the long-term effects of how the lion felt after he was denied his bride. That's why I decided to change it so that the claws could grow back and the reader is left with the impression that the lioness serves a ruthless and bloody vengeance.

Bibliography. "The Lion in Love" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894). Web Source.

Comments

  1. As a microbiology major I love the accuracy of the gender swap. I also love how you turned a short poem into an entire story with an epilogue. The last paragraph had me at the edge of my seat and I scrolled ready for more, the suspense is wonderful. Maybe you could do a follow up micro story for extra credit at some point.

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  2. This was a great story and very well written. I loved how you made it a lioness and provided a realistic reason for the change in your authors note. I also liked how you had the dark ending where the lioness eats the family because she has become a good hunter again. The part where she did all of those things to her body to please the man really made me think about how some women are today. I loved that this story was more of a power to women story and that she can make it on her own. Overall great story and I loved reading it.

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  3. Hi Leah!
    I really liked your story!
    I very much enjoyed your significant changes to the ending, it gave the story a much more interesting conclusion that offered a degree of suspense as to how it would play out.
    I also really liked how you showed something of a miniature character arc in that last paragraph, which kind of served as an epilogue to the rest of the story.
    Though one thing that I was left wondering was if things might have been different if the lioness had tried to encounter the man she was infatuated with in a less aggressive context first rather than going to the father.
    I also wonder what the son might have thought about the idea of being married to the lioness. We know his father didn't approve of the match, but would he have been interested if he met the lioness in a less startling context?

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