The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and sent them out of town
In the kingdom of Fiery Briar there lived a lonely unicorn, Gemma. Gemma had always longed to have a friend, but because she was last of unicorn in Fiery Briar the other animals treated her as a queen instead of a friend. Many of the other animals were scared of her, because of her horn and her queenly state.
All Gemma truly wanted was someone to talk to and enjoy eating delicious food as friends. So it was that she decided she would go on a journey to a far away land in the hopes of finding a friend.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and sent them out of town
Gemma began her travels and journeyed to the country of Peonia where she met a lovely bird who was singing in a tree.
She said to the bird, "Would you like to be my friend and try delicious foods with me?"
The bird looked at Gemma and thought, "This is a very funny looking horse and I'm afraid she will impale me with that silly thing on her head. I do not wish to be her friend." So he responded to Gemma abruptly, "NO, I cannot be your friend, for I have too many friends of my own. There is no time for you."
Gemma slowly walked away, trying not to cry. She traveled far and wide in search a great friend, but try as she might, no one wanted to be friends with her. They all found her too beautiful or too scary because of the horn on her head. No one could understand that being a queen and the last of her kind was lonely and she needed someone to talk with.
Finally, the wonderful, lonely unicorn traveled to the desert land of Rory. It was here she said to herself, "If I cannot friend in this waste land, then I shall never have a friend. This land seems like the saddest place in the world."
She did not know just how right she was, for in the land of Rory there lived a lonely king lion. Everyone was afraid of KB, the kingly lion, because he was big and ferocious with large claws. No one understood that he simply wanted to be loved.
While on his daily walk of the desert KB found Gemma wandering the wasteland crying. He asked her, "Girl, why are you crying? One who is so beautiful should not be so sad."
Gemma looked up at the lion in amazement, no one had ever asked her what was wrong or called her beautiful. They were all too scared to talk with her.
She said the lion, " I am sad because I am lonely. I have traveled very far in search of a friend to talk with and enjoy meals together."
KB looked at her and said, "I want to be your friend. Let us live in the kingdom together and talk, laugh, and eat."
For the first time in many years, Gemma smiled. She smiled down at KB, the lion, because to her he was not scary, he was magnificent, and she desperately wanted to be his friend.
As so it was, from that point forward Gemma and KB were inseparable. They spent the rest their days walking their kingdoms, talking and trying new kinds of delicious foods.
The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
Authors Note: The original rhyme is a simple story of a lion and unicorn who were fighting for a crown and then after eating appeared to be tossed out the town they were fighting to control. I chose to portray the two magnificent creatures as searching for friends and finding each other instead of fighting for a crown. The value of friendship is something very important. This story reminds me of the Greek mythology story Damon and Pythias. Pythias is released by Dionysius to take care of some affairs, on the promise that he will return and face execution because if he did not Damon would be killed instead. When Pythias returns Dionysius is amazed at the bond of friendship and lets them both go free.
Bibliography: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "The Lion and the Unicorn" in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang.
I really liked how you changed the nursery rhyme so that the lion and the unicorn were now friends. I can't believe that some of the animals were scared of her, although the horn would be a little bit scary, especially to a bird. Its so sad how the unicorn doesn't have any friends but I'm glad that by the end she found her new best friend. Good story!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your story! The imagery and the detail were great and I loved the pictures that you used. My son has been listening to nursery rhymes on youtube over and over again the last week and this is one of the few he has had on repeat, so I know it well. I liked how you took the simple story of them fighting for a crown and turned it into a much deeper plot of the animals just wanting the fulfillment of friendship. It was very nicely done!
ReplyDeleteWow, your version of the story was completely different from the original rhyme and yet you were able to make it sound just like a children’s book. I think that’s pretty cool since the original was a nursery rhyme, something usually told to children, and even though you only maintained the most basic elements of the story you still kept what was basically the same feel of the rhyme. I would have liked to hear more about what animals rejected the unicorn as she was looking for a friend. You said that she was rejected pretty often but you really only mentioned the bird. I understand though that adding lots of examples can be difficult with the word count limit but I think more potential friends who rejected her might be a more important detail to add than some of the initial background information. I definitely liked the ending though. It was almost the polar opposite of the original rhyme but again it sounds like it would actually teach a better lesson.
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