Once upon a time, there was a little princess named Mary. Now, Mary wasn’t any ordinary princess. She didn’t exactly come from a royal family, but when she found herself to be gifted with the ability to be able to talk to animals, she knew something wonderful was about to happen. The next day something wonderful did happen.

Mary was walking through the jungle one day and came across a lioness. She froze. She remembered her mother telling her that a lion is very unpredictable and there for very dangerous. Mary heard a soft voice that said, “Why doesn’t he want to be king? What’s so bad about it?” Mary noticed the voice was coming from the lioness. She crept a little further in the grass. The lioness snapped her head in Mary’s direction. “What’s there?” she asked. Mary crouched down hoping the lioness hadn’t seen her, but before she could back up the lioness grabbed her shoe with her claws and dragged her out of the grass. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” she asked Mary.

“I…I …I heard you talking about someone not wanting to be king.” Mary stammered.

“Wait, I can understand you and you can understand me! How is that possible?” the lioness said surprised.

‘I was wondering the same thing actually.” Mary said. The lioness released her grip on Mary’s shoe and paced.

“You must be the one!”

“What?” Mary asked.

“Come with me this will all make sense to you soon.” The lioness said. With that she turned around and headed back to the den of her pride, Mary followed her.

They walked for a few miles until they reached the den. “Wait here.” The lioness said to Mary and went in. She came out a moment later with a male lion. “Do you think she’s the one, Chowie?” the lioness asked the male.

“There’s only one way to be sure, Holly.” Chowie walked a little closer to Mary and said, “What’s your name, child?”

“Mary.” Mary said.

Chowie looked surprised and said, “She is the one!”

“What are you talking about? I’m just a normal girl who just happens to be able to talk to animals.” Mary said still a little confused by all this.”

“Holly, go tell the rest of the pride The One is here.” Chowie said. Then to Mary he said, “My dear, we have been waiting for you for centuries. The prophecy says a young girl, such as yourself, who is able to talk to animals will soon come and be princess of beasts and rule with the king, which is me.”

“But I heard Holly asking herself why you didn’t want to be king, and now you’re saying you are the king. What do you want? Do you only want to be king because I’m here?”

“No. Actually I made up my mind while Holly was out. Please stay I don’t think there will be another girl like you.”

“I don’t know. I mean, you’re asking me to leave my family behind and live with a bunch of lions. Do you even realize what my father would do if he found out about this? He would hunt you down. I don’t want to do that to you. I’m sorry I just can’t I have to get going, I can’t be late for dinner again.”

“Please stay, we’re all counting on you. The whole kingdom has been cursed until The One comes. Please Mary. You don’t know how hard things have been without you. They are absolutely horrible. The hunters are hunting every creature; we have a low supply of food and water. Don’t you see, we need you.”

Mary thought about this for some time then said, “Okay, tell you what, I’ll be your princess only if I get to go home for meals and bed, and I still have to go to school all day.”

“That sounds swell.” Chowie said.

“Great! Now I have to get home for dinner. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mary said. She walked home and got there just when her mother was serving it.

“Mary,” her mother said. “I thought you wouldn’t make it again.”

“Well I made it. What’s for dinner?”

“Mashed potatoes and steak.” Her father said.

“Yumm My favorite.” Mary said and sat down.

That night after dinner, Mary did her homework out on the back porch. She was in the middle of her English assignment when Holly came walking over to her. “Mary, we have a problem.” She said.

‘What is it?” Mary asked. She put her binder and pencil in her bag.

“Chowie’s hurt. He got in a fight with another lion from another pride. We need your help.”

“What can I do? I don’t know anything about wounds.” Mary said.

“There’s one thing I forgot to tell you earlier. You are not only able to communicate with animals but you also have healing powers. All you have to do for them to work is put your hand over the wound and concentrate on healing it. Come on we don’t have much time.”

“But what about my parents I’ll get in so much trouble if I go out there this time of day.”

“They won’t notice you’re gone. Every time you go to our den the whole human time frame freezes, so it’s like you weren’t even gone.”

“Okay.” Mary stood up and followed Holly to where Chowie lay.

Mary knelt down beside him and saw the gash on his shoulder that was made by a claw. She put her hand over it, spread her fingers apart, and concentrated on healing it. In a few minutes the wound was healed. It left no scar; it was like nothing ever happened. Chowie stood up and thanked Mary.

They walked back to the den and had a celebration for Mary’s arrival. “Hey, Mary!” a young lion cub named Max yelled. Mary turned around.

“Yeah?” she said.

“Did you know I’m next in line for the throne?” he asked.

“No I didn’t. I’d love to rule with you.”

Max saw his friend Snoopy and went over to him.

“May I have your attention, everyone?” Chowie said. All the lions and lionesses turned to face their new king.

“As you all know The One has finally arrived. She has however made a deal with me. She will only stay if she is allowed to go home for meals and sleep. And she gets to go to school. Does anyone have any objections to that?” no one said anything. “Good. I didn’t think so but it’s always good to check just to be safe.”

The next morning, Mary walked to the den with Holly. “You have a meeting with a few animals first. They would like to meet you so they can feel safe around you and having you as their princess.” Holly said.

“Okay.”

They got to the den and Holly led Mary to a part of the den she hadn’t seen the night before. “Go on in and have a seat. Chowie will bring in the animals in a few minutes.”

Mary sat down on a stone slab by another longer stone slab. Chowie brought in the animals. They too sat on the stone slabs.

“Hello, I’m Mary.” Mary said. “And you are?”

“I’m Ted.” A monkey said.

“I’m Sammy.” A cheetah said.

“I’m Dave.” A zebra said.

“It’s very nice to meet all of you. Now I was told you came to meet me so you would feel safe being around me and having me as your princess. Is that correct?” Mary said.

“Yes.” Ted said. “Our first question for you is what do you plan to do for the good of your kingdom?”

“Well I understand that you have very little food and water, so I was planning to try to figure out a way to get some of those resources back to being accessible at all times. I also understand many of you are being killed by the hunters. That makes sad to know that. I’m not exactly sure what I can do about that but I’ll think of something I promise. Next question.”

“What type of monarchy do you plan to run?”

“I plan to try to make everything fair for all of you. I don’t believe that a princess or any royal figure should be able to play favorites. You are all part of my kingdom and I feel it’s my responsibility to keep all of you happy and safe.”

“Thank you. That’s all we needed.”

“You’re welcome.” I got up and walked out. Chowie was there waiting for me.

“I’m so glad you decided to stay. Thank you very much.”

“No problem.”

As Mary began to rule with Chowie the animal’s food and water supply began rising. The hunters were all scared off by mechanical leopards Mary made. The whole kingdom was fully freed from its curse and everyone lived happily ever after.