Written by Elsa (Year 13)
A lioness doesn’t trouble herself with the opinions of baboons.
They were grunting and barking right now in the gathering twilight, waving those ungainly limbs of theirs in the chaos of discontent. The lioness twisted one ear backward disdainfully and left the noisy monkeys to their business. Amber eyes flashing in the near darkness, she sprung powerfully up into the tree which marked the centre of her territory, and surveyed the wild grasses, dried by the recent drought. That must be what was keeping the baboons in her territory all the time nowadays, close to their water source. Normally they were bolder, venturing further out beyond the notice of the lioness, but now their irritating shrieks disturbed her sleep by day and she felt tense and restless as she went hunting by night.
Something stirred close to the tree and the lioness high up in the branches was instantly alert. Her prey, a small, scrawny thing, dithered around snuffing for scraps. She slid her limbs seamlessly into position, not blinking once, tail flicking noiselessly into the position she would need to catch her balance when she jumped. One spring and her prey would be hers. Saliva flooded her mouth in anticipation.
Suddenly the head of her prey was bolt upright, nose twitching. In an instant, it was pinned to the ground as a young lion delivered the killing bite, looking all too pleased with himself. Cub! The lioness thought furiously. That was my dinner! She sprung at the young one, who was taken completely unaware and let out a loud yowl of surprise as she wrenched the prey from his jaws. The lioness could have cursed him, for near instantaneously the night was alive with baboons.
This is where the story fell steeply from the lioness’ favour, for it was as though a giant had plucked her from the sky. Another seized the young lion. The prey fell to the floor and the baboon holding her screamed hysterically. This was always the part that the lioness found most humiliating of all. She was a proud cat, not to be coddled and especially not to be whisked away from her prey and an entertaining fight!
But this lioness was very little indeed, and her infuriating young contender for her prey even smaller still. They were easily carried away by the baboons who held them. The little lioness’ tail twitched resentfully as the baboon carried her away into the strange, vast den where it slept, ate, and spent an awful lot more time than it was supposed to of late, with its equally unbearable companions.
However, the vast den did have its perks. Although the baboons had no claws or fangs like lions (nor even normal baboons for that matter) and devastatingly slow reflexes, they must have been fearsome hunters for they gorged themselves on vast amounts of food, and always provided the lioness with some should she fail to hunt successfully. A humiliating incident when it happened, but the little lioness was glad not to fall asleep with an empty belly.
Speaking of sleep, the baboons slept on enormous pelts which were very comfortable and warm indeed. Sometimes, as now, when the lioness (who was really very little) could swallow her pride at being a great cat, she might even curl up next to the baboons (who were rather warm and affectionate, it must be allowed) and sleep in soft comfort.
Of course, that was until she woke, when she would be instantly out of the den and in her natural habitat again. A lioness doesn’t trouble herself with the opinions of baboons.