Adam and the Roar

In a far away jungle was little lion cub named Adam. He was a prince. His daddy was the king. King of the jungle all the other animals listened to him and obeyed him. Especially, when he roared. like this.

"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"

His father the king would roar all day and sometimes at night to all the other animals.

"ROAR!" he roared "Watch out giraff, you might step on that monkey!"


"ROAR! Watch were you're running zebra, you might crash into that elephant!"

"ROAR!"

Yes king lion would roar all day at all the other animals and they would listen to him because he was the king.

But Adam, didn't like the roar very much, no sir he didn't the roar was long and loud you have to open your mouth wide and show all of your teeth to make it.

"ROAR!"

Just like that. "ROAR!"

And the roar was a bit scary. Adam was afraid to roar. So he didn't.

His mom the queen would call to him.
"Hey, Adam. Please won't you roar for me?"

But Adam would simply shake his little head "No".

His dad king lion would say to him.
"Hey, Adam. Come and let me hear your roar?"

But Adam shook his head again "No".

"Come on, Adam. I have a very nice roar and I am sure that yours would be even better. Alright, give it a try, won't you please?"

"But, I don't know to make a roar, daddy." Adam protested.

"Oh, that's okay. I can teach you. Just stand up straight, take a deep breath, tighten your tummy and give a loud growl."

So Adam, did as his father the king told him; he stood up straight, took a deep breath, tucked in his tummy but when he meant to growl instead what came out was a weak little "yelp".

"A yelp. Oh dear." thought the king.

"Dear me." thought the queen.

Adam was sad. He meant to give his mom and dad a big roar that would make them proud but instead a little meow came out. His parents didn't like that he was sad, so they said.

"Oh, don't worry Adam. I'm sure your roar will come out soon. Isn't that right, dad?"

"Why, yes mom. Of course. My roar didn't come out until much later after all my mane were full on my head."

"See? So, don't worry Adam. Just keep practicing." said mom the queen.

"Yes, of course, dear. Practice is very important if you want to make a big and loud roar. Why don't you go out and play with your friends? So, you can practice with them?"

That cheered him up a bit and he wagged his little tail left and right and bounced out of the den. He ran into the very centre of the meadow where the large baobab tree was surrounded by short green grass that was very fun to play in. His friend Zaire was already there, a baby zebra eating the soft delicious grass and soon enough, his other friends came too one by one.

"Hello, Adam". said Zaire with a mouth full of grass.

"Hello, Zaire."

And no sooner had they said hello that Kaya came running. A young cheetah who was the fastest of all the baby animals. She ran so fast that they barely saw her coming until she was sitting beside them.

"Hello, Adam. Hello, Zaire." she said.

"Hello, Kaya." they said.

"Wow, Kaya. You sure are fast I think you got even faster than yesterday." said Zaire.

"Thanks." she said proudly already back up on her feet and hopping from Adam to Zaire.

Soon after. They heard a very loud rumble and they all looked into the distance to see a very funny sight. A little monkey was holding mangoes with one hand while standing on an elephant who was running towards them on his other hand and a bird was flying behind them and picking up whatever mango fell down. As the three animals got closer the elephant yelled;

"Woah, out of the way please!"

The others took cover and ran behind tree to avoid the crashing elephant who then crashed into the big baobab tree with a loug thump.

"THUMP!"

The tree shook a bit but it wasn't damaged at all because it was a big and strong tree. Baba, the baby elephant was also not hurt because he was a tough little elephant too. And Manu the monkey was very nimble, before Baba crashed into the tree, he quickly jumped into one of the tree branches and he was comnpletely safe. Ayo the crane simply landed safely on the floor as she was still flying in the air when Baba, crashed..

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Adam asked peeking and coming out from the behing the
tree with Zaire and Kaya.

"Oh, we're fine!" said Manu "I'm an amazing acrobat remember?" and he with one quick jump he flipped through the air and landed on his two feet while still holding a mango in his right hand that he thrust into the air. The others were amazed and said.

"WOW!" with their mouths open and they all clapped for Manu for his aerial flips.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." he said bowing "And I'm sure Baba's fine. He's as tough as a tree!" and he went over to sweep off the Baobab tree leaves off of Baba's head, who raised his little trunk high into the air trumpeted as loud as he could.

"TRUMP!" and even more tree leaves fell on top of him.

"Wow. Good one, Baba."

"Yeah, Baba. That was very loud. I heard it way high up in the air." said Ayo who only just landed in their midst and hand Manu the rest of his mangoes with her feet.

"Thanks, Ayo." said Manu.

"You're welcome." she said.

"Hey, guys. Do you want to see something really cool?" Manu asked excitedly and the rest of the baby animals yelled...

"YES!"

"Ayo and I have made a new game called throw and catch and it is really fun. We'll show you."

And in a swift move he threw a mango very high up in the air and before anyone could saw what was happening, Ayo shot up into the air and caught it midair surprising everyone except Manu.

"Woah! Ayo that was fast!" said Adam.

"Amazing!"

"Yeah, you were fast as a bullet!"

"Thanks." she said and dropped the mango back to Manu.

"Alright, everyone. Let's all throw mangoes into the air for Ayo to catch."

"YAY!" And they all ran to collect the mangoes from Manu and began throwing it into the air and everytime, every single time and he dropped it back down to them from the air. So, mangoes were being thrown high into the air by all the animals and dropped from the air by Ayo at the same time. And they were having so much fun. Until they all got tired and collapsed upon the grass laughing.

"That was so much fun!" Said Ayo landing beside her friends.

"Yeah, you're really good at flying, Ayo."

"Thanks, Kaya and I saw you running from the air. You are really fast too."

"Yeah but no one threw the mangoes higher into than Baba. He's really strong. He threw them way up in the sky." said Manu.

"Yeah, but you threw them while making backflips in the air, Manu. You're a really cool acrobat." said Baba.

"Oh, no. We are all great animals except me." said Adam sadly and Kaya ran to his side.

"What's wrong, Adam?" she asked.

"Well, it's just that everyone else is good at who they are. Baba is a tough elephant, Manu is a very nimble monkey, Ayo is great at flying bird and you are a very fast cheetah."

"Hey, you didn't say what I am good at, Adam?" said Zaire.

"You're very good at eating grass, Zaire." said Manu quickly and Zaire galloped happily.

"That's right, Manu. For a zebra that is very good. But me, I am a lion and I can't even roar and I don't think I am very brave."

"What I think you're very brave, Adam." said Baba.

"Yeah, me too. You just haven't needed to show it yet." said Kaya.

"Okay but...I can't roar."

"Well, a roar is very important for a lion." said Ayo wisely "Why don't you asked your dad to show you how to make a roar?"

"He showed me how to make a roar this morning. He said first; i have to stand up straight, second; take a deep breath, third; tighten my tummy and fourth; make a loud growl."

"Wow."

"That sounds like really great advice."

"Yeah! Did you try it? Were you able to make a big roar?"

"No, Manu. I tried it but I only made a little yelp and not a roar."

"Really? Oh dear!" said Zaire getting worried for his best friend.

"But what did your dad say about your...yelp?" asked Baba.

"Well... he said that I should keep practicing."

"Yes of course. Practice makes perfect right?" said Kaya.

"Right! And we're going to help you." said Manu.

"Really?"

"Why, yes of course!"
"Certainly!"
"We'd love to!" his friends chorused and Adam was in high spirits.

"Okay, first stand back so we can all observe you." said Baba and Adam took two steps backwards and stood in front of his entire friends.

"Now give us your biggest roar!" yelled Manu

"O-kay." said Adam getting a little nervous again "Here goes."

And he gave it another go for his friends sake but all that came out was another...

"yelp"

"Yelp?" said Manu "Is that your roar? That was terrible!" and he immediately apologized when the others gave him a surprised look. "Sorry, Adam."

"Erm...what Manu meant was that it was different." said Kaya

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll get better if you try again." Bala said.

But Adam, sat down giving up. "Oh, what's the use? I'm never going to be able to roar like my dad or a proper lion."

"Don't say that, Adam. I'm sure even your dad had trouble getting it right the first time." said Ayo

"I guess...but I don't understand why my roar is not coming out. I did everything my dad said."

"Are you sure Adam...because I don't think that you did everything your dad told you to do." said Zaire.

"Wha...what do you mean?

'Well, you didn't stand up straight. Your dad told you that the first thing to do to make a roar is to stand up straight."

"Really? I thought I did."

"Not very well. I'm a zebra and we know all about standing up straight. It helps us see above the grass to know if someone is coming. You were standing up straight, Adam. Just look at me and do it like I do with your chin up." And Zaire showed Adam the proper way ro stand up straight.

"And you didn't a deep breath either," said Baba "not properly. We elephants always take a deep breath before we make a trumpet with our trunks. That's how we make a very loud trumpet. Just look at me and do it like I do with your mouth open and suck in a lot of air. AHHH" And Baba showed Adam the proper way to take a deep breath.

"And you definitely didn't tighten your tummy like I do before I do a backflip." said Manu. "Just make your tummy hard as a rock, like this." And Manu showed Adam how to tighten his tummy properly.

"And try to make a growl next time. Its easy. Just start by saying 'grr' from your tummy. 'GROWL'". And so Kaya also showed Adam how to make a growl.

"I believe you can do it, Adam." said Ayo "and if you believe you can do it. You will definitely be able to do it."

And so with all his friends' advice, Adam tried to make another roar. He stood up straight like Zaire, he took a deep breath like Baba, he tightened his tummy like Manu and he started a growl from his tummy like Kaya showed him. But what came out was a 'YOWL'.

"Yowl?" said Manu "that's not a roar was it?"

"I don't think so." said Baba and all the other animals were puzzled because they couldn't figure out why Adam's roar wasn't coming out. He had taken most of their advice but he still wasn't roaring like his dad.

"Anyway, a 'yowl' way better than a 'yelp', right?" Asked Manu.

"Oh, definitely." Said Baba.

"There you go! That was an improvement."

"Umm, yeah. You just need a little more practice, that's all."

"Yes, but right now, let's go play some more and we will help Adam practice later. Anybody wanna see me do more flips?"

"YEAH!!!"

And the animals ran after Manu as he did more really cool flips in the air for them. But Adam walked a little behind he was now getting worried about not being able to roar. He didn't understand why he wasn't roaring yet.

"Hey, Adam, what's wrong?" Asked Ayo as she flew quietly back to meet him.

"I'm just wondering why I still can't roar yet." Adam said sadly. Ayo thought for a while and said;

"Maybe it's lack of confidence."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I believe you can roar if you believe you can. You just have to believe in yourself too." And as she flew away to join the others in play, Adam thought about what she said.

He did believe he could roar if he really tried to. It's just that...he was afraid that his father might not like his roar and be disappointed in him. He was also afraid that his might not like it too.

"What if his roar made them laugh? That would very bad." He thought. "Maybe I just won't roar at all. Nobody would mind. Afterall, is not really helpful or necessary. It's just talking very loud. I'm sure nobody would miss my roar."

And just as Adam was becoming happy about not roaring. He heard a loud crash and saw that his friends had fallen into a ditch. All of them.

"Hey!"

"Help!"

"Somebody HELP US!"

He ran to them and saw them all in the ditch even Ayo.

"Hey, are you guys okay?"

"Adam? Stay back don't fall into the ditch. Then we would all be in trouble!" Said Kaya.

"Yes, Adam. You have to go get help." Said Manu.

"No," said Baba "it's better if you call for help them grown ups would over right away and help us out of here."

"But, Baba. I don't think I can call for help loud enough for anyone to hear me."

"Yeah, you can. Use your roar then everyone would hear you." Said Manu.

"But guys, I don't think I have a good roar."

"Yeah, you do. You just have to believe in yourself." Said Ayo.

"Yes, Adam. Your roar is the best roar I know it is. You just have to try."

Manu was now jumping in the ditch. "Adam's roar is the bestest, loudest roar in the whole Serengeti!" He said.

"It's the best roar in the whole wide world!" Said Kaya.

"YEAH!!!" They all said.

Suddenly, Adam's heart filled with so much joy and pride and he said.

"I'm going to do it guys!"

"YAY!!!" they clapped.

"Stand up straight!" Said Zaire.

"Take a deep breath!" Said Baba.

"Tighten your tummy!" Said Manu.

"And growl!" Said Kaya.

"Believe in yourself Adam!" Said Ayo.

And he stood up straight, took a deep breath, tightened his tummy and growl from the bottom of his tummy.

And what came out was the loudest, longest and bestest...

RRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"

...anyone had ever heard in the history of the entire Serengeti. Even in the whole world.

"YAY!!!" his friends jumped for joy in the ditch.

"Everyone must have heard that."

"And they're coming to help us."

"Yeah, Adam's roar is the best roar in the whole world and it is not even scary." Zaire said.

Soon enough,the grownups came including Adam's dad, King Lion.

"Are you kids okay?" They asked and they helped the kids out of the ditch one by one and filled the ditch with sand so that it wasn't a ditch that anymore could fall into anymore.

"We're okay. Adam saved us with his roar!" They said.

"Really? Adam was that your roar?" Asked King Lion.

"Yes, Dad." He said proudly.

"Wonderful! But when did you learn to roar?"

"My friends showed me."

"Yeah, we did. We really did."

"We taught him how to stand up straight..."

"...take a deep breath..."

"...tighten his tummy..."

"...and growl." They said.

"But most of all. They taught me to believe in myself and now I can roar like a lion."

"And now you have the best roar in the entire Serengeti." said King Lion.