Story Time on the Blog

Who’s up for a story? Long-time blog reader Katie sent me the prologue to her book, Leopard Hunt, and I’m extremely happy to share it with you guys. It’s got a fantastic, world-unto-itself kind of feel to it. You’ll see what I mean…

Enjoy!:

When the World Began

Long ago, in the untamed and majestic wilderness of Asia, there lay a vast jungle so large no man had ever ventured the whole of it.

In this vast jungle lived all sorts of creatures, some prey, some predator, who balanced the populations, only taking what they needed to live. The greatest predator in this jungle was the tiger: strong, striped beasts who dominated with all force. The other animals feared the tiger, not saying they disliked it, but it was for sure the creature they most avoided.

The tigers had large numbers, just like all creatures of that time, but only lived in one end the jungle, their territory ending close to the centre, and from there on there would be no tigers.

After that point, you would see none of any sort of large cat, only the trees and sometimes a few prey animals, but there wasn’t as much prey there. A few miles after that point, life was all around again. But no tigers here. Large cats dominated, were feared, but of a different size, colour and species.

Leopards.

Leopards lived here, separated from their striped cousins, no other cats to compete for territory with. There of course was once a time, long before then, which was an even longer time ago, where tigers and leopards did live close together.

Tearing each other apart, without downsizing their species, never having solid boundaries or territories, wishing things were different. Both species knew there were better ways to live, but they could not resolve it.

Luckily for them, a few of the wisest tigers and a few of the wisest leopards came together on a single night. During that night, they discussed, staying relaxed and unthreatening. During their discussion, they learned that the only way to keep their peace and to live their lives the way they wanted to, was to separate, the leopards to live on one side of the jungle, the tigers on the other, with a space in the centre where neither of the cats would live. By the morning, when they announced to their species the proposition, they agreed, hoping things would be better then than before.

So the tigers and leopards went their separate ways, going on to their new life.

They had lived this way for very long, and still, they knew it was right. For then, after the great move, both the cats would be glad every day that they could live a peaceful, more relaxed life than before.

—

Cool, huh? I love imagining a world in which leopards and tigers come together to discuss life. Wouldn’t it be amazing to sit in on those conversations?

Many thanks to Katie for sending us this part of her book. Hopefully we can all find the rest of it on store shelves in the near future!

Talk to you all soon.

Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com