“Too bad you lost,” he said, and swallowed the hare whole.
The Lion had surprised even himself. He hadn’t intended on eating the hare. But seeing the hare give up had been too much for him. The Lion had run away one too many times in cowardice. Giving up was not to be tolerated.
A momentary hush descended on the clearing as the animals realized what had just happened. “No one will be permitted to drop out of this delicious contest,” the Lion remarked. “I haven’t enjoyed a meal this much in years.”
But what he really enjoyed was the reaction of his subjects. There was a tremble that went through the onlookers. One that he had caused.
“The winners will be awarded the finest dens and burrows in the Forest of the Beasts. The losers will be eaten!” he announced in a fit of genius that was worthy of the Scarecrow. He clambered back up to his perch, settling down with a satisfied burp. “Who’s next?”
As soon as the Lion’s subjects realized their lives were on the line, the fights grew even more fierce. “Law of the jungle!” the Lion remarked happily to no one in particular as a fox furiously battled a beaver. (The fox won; the beaver scrambled for the edge of the clearing, but the Lion quickly pounced and devoured him. “What fun!” he roared.) But as the afternoon wore on, the Lion grew full—and bored. The losers, at first resistant, gave up and stopped putting up a fight. The Lion pardoned several of them at random, just to give himself something to do. Relieved, they slunk off into the trees, fleeing the Lion’s temporary mercy without a backward glance. As the next competitors, a bobcat and a ferret, stepped into the ring, the Lion roared in exasperation.
He couldn’t explain it—somewhere between swallowing the hare and this moment, the thrill had subsided again.
“This isn’t interesting at all!” he complained. “Just go home, all of you.” The beasts froze, staring at him in confusion. “Go home!” he bellowed. “Did you hear me?” None of the animals waited for him to say it again. Seconds later, the clearing was empty except for the Lion and Cornelius.
The Lion sighed. “So much for that,” he said. “I thought a tournament would be exciting, but it’s nowhere near as fun as a real battle. Maybe I should go to war against the winged monkeys.” He brightened. “I’ve never eaten a monkey. I suppose they might taste interesting?”
“As you like, sir,” Cornelius said patiently, but his red eyes blinked more than usual.
“No, you’re right,” the Lion said. “That’s not the thing either. I thought it was so nice, being a ruler, when I first came here. But the forest is boring, and so are all these wretched animals. I miss adventure, and cities, and seeing new things. Maybe I’m just not cut out to be King of the Beasts.”
But he wondered—if not this, what? He had spent his whole life wanting not to be a coward. He had never really thought how it would really feel to be king. Cornelius tried not to let his surprise show. He’d never heard the Lion talk like this before.
“But Glinda gave you the forest to rule, sir,” he said. “Who else could do the job?”
“You could, probably,” the Lion said. “Or anyone, really. I wonder what she would think if she could see me now.” No sooner had he spoken the words aloud than the clearing filled with a soft pink light. A cloud of tiny pink fireflies swirled through the air in a spinning column that gradually took on the shape of a woman.
“Glinda?” the Lion asked in astonishment as the witch floated forward. She was dressed in her usual pink ball gown, and her hair was piled on top of her head and secured with amethyst-studded combs. She hovered daintily a few inches from the ground, fluttering her long eyelashes at the Lion.
“My dear Lion,” she said sweetly. “If I’m not mistaken, were you just questioning my judgment?”
THREE
“Oh no, not at all!” exclaimed the Lion hastily, sitting up straight and gesturing furiously to Cornelius, who leapt forward to pick bits of the tournament losers out of the Lion’s mane. “If only I’d known you were coming, I would have . . .” The Lion waved a paw at his filthy, matted fur.
He did not want to seem ungrateful. She had helped him, Scare, Tin, and Dorothy get everything their hearts desired. But just like Scare said once in one of his overly long letters, she hadn’t exactly given them any instruction on how to use their new gifts.