The Song of the Caged Lion

A Story by OnePage

A short story regarding a circus lion who can sing.

The lion sat in the corner of his cage, away from his onlookers. The cage was roomy enough for him, but how is it that years ago, he could run free, but chose not to, and now he could run nowhere, but dreamed of his old life? He thought of it for a minute, but then the thought escaped his mind. The wall behind his cage was striped, although he could not really see the colors. It was the color of a beautiful flower, he always told himself.

It was beginning to get dark out, and that meant it was time to sleep, although that was against every instinct he had ever had. Lying in the back, he saw a small boy come up to his cage with a bag of peanuts. The bag was the same color as the wall behind him. The boy was the only one around, no mother or father, nor older sibling in sight. The lion got up and began to stumble towards the front of his cage. The dust below his feet began to come to life, as if the wind was blowing. The little boy came as close to the cage as he could, but eventually he hesitated and stopped moving forward.

“Wow…” the boy said, “A real life lion!” The lion yawned, as if the boy was nothing more than another onlooker. The boy broke open a peanut and placed it gently on the ground, and then flicked it into the cage. Something about this boy was different, the lion knew. He did not throw the peanut like most of his tormentors do.

The little boy did something that the lion had never seen before, and that was worthy of a trick, he believed. For a long time, the lion had been listening to the birds. Some in the winter, some in the summer, some in the forest, some near the beach, and it seemed like this little boy would be the perfect person to try it on. He had to quickly decide before he lost the boy’s interest.

What would he pick? He thought for a moment. He determined the cluck of the bright birds that hung around the grounds would be inappropriate, and the long, sad cries of the crows would be too sad for the boy. He concluded that perhaps the quack of the swimming birds was silly, and the hoot and howls of the nocturnal birds was far too unfamiliar for him to try. A chirp was too simple, but a song was too intricate for his novice voice. He finally picked a simple whistle. He looked toward the sky, opened his mouth for the sound to escape.

The boy dropped his peanuts and fell backwards, while the lion was still singing to him. He ran as fast as he could, covered in the dust that covered the ground. The lion finished his performance. His eyes returned to Earth, rather than the heavens. He noticed the peanuts were laying on the ground. Looking left, then looking right, the lion thought maybe he had went to go get his parents or something, so waited to have his encore. After a few minutes, he decided to lie on his hay, and eventually, he fell asleep, knowing he had good karma for tomorrow.