Brother Lion - Short Story with a message

I wrote this story for my kids a couple of years ago to teach them about why the living things on our earth are all so important. Without them our earth would die and so would man as a species. Extinction is final.

Brother Lion

Once before time was known Brother Lion and Brother Man came to be.

The Mother Earth told them both they were to live together in harmony and share the resources she had given to them.

For many, many thousands of years, Brother Lion and Brother man shared the world with each other, and only took what they needed.

They wanted to make sure everything Mother Earth had given them would never run out.

Brother Lion hunted the animals and only took the weak, old and the small. This way the animals stayed strong and were always plentiful.

But as time went on, Brother Man became greedy and wanted all of the gifts Mother Earth had given to both him and Brother Lion.

Brother Man was very devious, and came up with a plan so he would not have to share anything with Brother Lion.

By now Brother Man had many, many sons and daughters, and lots of descendants.

Brother Lion did not bother Brother Man at all and left him be.

One day Brother Man burned down all of the forests. It killed all of the trees, and the animals that lived there.

Brother Lion was very sad for the trees and the animals that had died.

He came up to Brother Man and said to him “Brother Man? Why did you burn down all of the forests on Mother Earth. We need the trees to make our air to breathe, and the animals that lived in them to help the trees to grow.”

Brother Man made a scoffing sound and said to Brother Lion

“Brother Lion I burned down all of the forests because there was no room for my cities. Don’t worry yourself Brother Lion everything will be fine. We will plant some new trees, and Mother Earth will give us some new animals to live in them.”

But Brother Man did not plant any new trees and Mother Earth could not make any more new animals – for there was no forest left for them to live in.

Now Brother Man began to pollute all of the water Mother Earth had given them.

Brother Lion went to have a drink at a river and found it tasted very bad. All of the fish had died, and none of the other animals that Brother Lion relied on for food could drink the bad water.

Brother Lion went back to see Brother Man and said “Brother Man you’ve made all of the water Mother Earth gave to us very bad to drink. All of the fish have died and there is no good water left for the others to drink.”

Brother Man smiled and said “Don’t worry Brother Lion I will make the water Mother Earth gave to us all clean again and everyone will be happy.”

But, again Brother Man had lied to Brother Lion.

Brother Lion realised now that Brother Man had deceived him and all of the other animals that lived on Mother Earth.

He was very angry and roared out his rage across the surface of Mother Earth.

Brother Man had now made Mother Earth very sick. Her skies were now black with smoke from Brother Man’s many cities. The waters were all green and no fish or animals could drink from them. The forests had been all burned down – but worse was yet to come.

Brother Man now took all of the land the animals were living on.

Brother Lion was now very angry. The animals he hunted were now all dead from starvation, because Brother Man had taken all of their food, and was using the land to grow food for himself. He would not share it with the animals, Mother Earth had asked him, and Brother Lion to take care of.

Now, there were no more animals left for Brother Lion to hunt . As he came up to Brother Man to ask him why, Brother Man shot Brother Lion with a gun.

Brother Lion, as he lay dying, asked Brother Man “Why have you killed me?” 

And Brother Man, who did not care that he had killed his friend said “Because there is no place for you Brother Lion on my earth.”

Brother Lion died, and Brother Man took his skin and turned into a rug for his wall.

Brother Man bragged about killing Brother Lion to his friends, who laughed and said how good it was there were no more animals, birds and forests on their earth.

Then Mother Earth started to die. There were no more forests to make air to breath, no more water to make the clouds that made the rain, and no more animals left to keep Mother Earth alive.

As Mother Earth died and her world turned to nothing Brother Man stood on her dead surface and called out 

“Brother Lion! Where have you gone? I need you to help me save Mother Earth – why is she dying? I don’t understand!”

And as Brother Man himself began to die from something called extinction, Brother Lion’s voice could be heard somewhere in the stars

“Brother Man, Mother Earth has died because you took my life and let greed become your friend.”

Extinction is final. Look after our Earth. She is all we have.

Copyright 2010 -2012 Liz Clark