Ronan was a strong, fierce warrior in his younger years. He loved
his pride and guarded them with everything he had to offer. Though he would do
anything for the ones he loved in his pride, the rest of the animal kingdom had
reason to fear and respect Ronan.
Ronan was fast and never lost his kill. He never killed for
sport and made his kills as quick as possible. Still, when Ronan marked you for
his kill, there was no getting free. Ronan’s favorite meal was antelope; they
were more of a challenge to catch than other animals. Ronan said that antelopes
were “juicy and rewarding.”
Ronan’s death was a direct consequence of his love for
antelopes. Ronan, being the strongest and fastest in the pride, was tasked with
teaching the cubs how to hunt. His favorite cub was Klinga. Klinga was a silly,
uncoordinated little cub who happened to be the runt of his litter. Klinga
would never amount to much in the pride, but Ronan loved him all the same.
One day, Ronan was out teaching the cubs how to hunt
antelope. Klinga was all-too-eager to be the first to make a kill. He ran out
in the pack of antelopes, with no clear kill in mind, trying to find the baby
of the group. The antelopes, much bigger than Klinga, began to attack him and
push him away from their group. Ronan, tasked with the wellbeing of all the
cubs, didn’t know what to do. He didn’t wish to leave the other cubs unguarded
but couldn’t bear to see Klinga injured like that. Ronan jumped in front of
Klinga right as the antelopes were charging with their long, pointed
pronghorns.
Klinga had his eyes closed and opened them to see Ronan
laying in front of him, bleeding from enormous wounds in his side. Ronan said
to Klinga, “take the cubs back to the pride and make sure they make it home
safely.” Klinga, overcome with sadness, ran back to the cubs before he could
say anything else.
Ronan was respected by the animals in the animal kingdom,
particularly by the antelopes. He only killed for meat and killed quickly,
unlike many other lions. When they had seen what they had done, the antelopes
left Ronan to die on his own. Ronan, just a young lion, couldn’t believe his
life had come to this. He slowly, painfully dragged himself to his favorite
cave, not far from where he was laying. There, he hoped to die peacefully on
his own, remembering all of his favorite times in life. These hopes were dashed
though, when he saw some familiar animals heading his way…
Author’s note: A lion lay sick and dying in his cave.
Instead of the other animals leaving him to die on his own, they all come in
and take advantage of the dying lion. They make him suffer more and hurt
the lion. The moral of the story is that only cowards will act that way when
they know that they cannot be harmed in return. I wanted to give the lion a back story that showed the fierce warrior he was in his lifetime, explaining why all the other animals only dared to approach him when he was dying and incapable of harming them.
Bibliography: “The Sick Lion” from Aesop’s Fables by Aesop.
Caption: Cecil the lion at Hwange National Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cecil_the_lion_at_Hwange_National_Park_(4516560206).jpg
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Hey! I really enjoyed reading your story and I like how you gave us the back story on Ronan. It made him much more alive and I personally felt like I knew him because of what you had told us about him. I also liked what you said about only cowards fighting the weak or attacking a defenseless being. I completely agree with that myself and do not think that it is fair to fight like that.
ReplyDeleteHey Ellie. Your story was heartbreaking! I wasn't expecting Ronan to die an unfortunate death, but the manner in which you described it was great. The details you provided were awesome, and I liked the way you took the story from Aesop's Fables and created a background story for it. I think some dialogue between Ronan and Klinga would've made his death more personal, but nevertheless I enjoyed your story! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHey Ellie, I thought you did a good job with you story. I liked how you gave the lion a backstory. It made me feel really sad for him when he got injured. I liked how it wasn’t really a retelling, but more of a prologue to the story you had chosen. I felt really bad for the lion cub, I bet he feels awful for what happened.
ReplyDeleteHi other Ellie!
ReplyDeleteYour story was so sad, especially with the picture of Cecil the lion. I really cared about Klinga and Ronan (who shares a name with one of my favorite book characters ever) a lot. I decided against doing this story for Week 1 because it was too sad for me.
Despite knowing Ronan was going to die, I was disappointed that he did. I wanted him to be a stronger warrior and kill the antelopes. I also wondered why the antelopes tried to kill Klinga because they're herbivores.
If I had to continue your story, I would combine it with another one of Aesop's Fables. There was one where the lion said it was dying and then ate all the people who came to pay their respects. So I would like Ronan to eat the animals who came to antagonize him and be able to heal from that.
I think I just want a happy ending, but you did a lovely job!
The original story made me incredibly sad but I think you did a good job of adding to it. I love that he lived and died as a warrior and he did was he had to do to protect his "family". I also really like the idea that he only hunted for sustenance. I think it shows a compassionate side to a creature often labeled as a ferocious beast. Great job on making up a back story!
ReplyDelete