Animal Christmas, Cristina Blanco, 1st advanced

One day an old man, with long, white beard, told me the story that I´m going to tell you. Once upon a time there was one place which the animals liked very much. There was good water, big trees and green grass and all the animals lived very happily together. But a strong and bad lion lived there too and he was specilly evil at Christmas time. The lion hated Christmas time and he didn´t understand why the rest of the animals were so happy. He preferred to kill more animals to eat, or just for fun, when Christmas Eve was close. One day the animals decided to stop the lion and come to an agreement. They said to the lion that they could bring him his dinner every night if he stopped killing animals. They asked him “Why are you so evil? Don´t you know what love is? Don´t you have a family?” The lion didn´t give an answer, because he didn´t have a family or friends. And that was why he didn´t like Christmas time, because everybody had someone to love. All sang different songs, all had Christmas dinner, all laughted, all had Christmas gifts… except for him. The lion had thought that they could be happier if the rest of the animals felt fear. But it wasn´t true. The animals looked at each other and understood the reason of the silence of the great lion. A little mouse came near to the great lion and told him: “I know what you need: You need a Christmas tree and friends to decorate it.” All the animals offered him to be his friends. The lion couldn´t believe what he was hearing. Tears began to well up in his eyes. “After all I did to you? Can it be possible?”. Of course: It´s Christmas!! The animals decided to spend the Christmas dinner all together. And the lion went with them. Since that moment the animals have lived happily and safely, and the lion is a vegetarian now.