Finding My Yellow Brick Road

Chapter Five - The Lion

WE DON'T MAKE it very far before a huge, golden Lion jumps out at us, roaring loudly, and cutting off the song before starting his own. He sings about him being the king of the jungle, and that we should run away, because he's a fierce Lion.

I get more and more upset the longer the song goes on, and as the Lion belts out the last note, I can't take it any more. I'm tired of him bullying my people, I don't care if he is a huge Lion. I punch him right on the nose.

"Oh!" He cries, covering his nose. "You – you hit me!" The Lion sobs.

"Well, dig that!" My cousin says, impressed. I walk away, hiding behind a tree so that I can shake out my hand and flex it, trying to see if anything's broken. That hurt!

"Don't you know you can cause permanent damage thataway?" The Lion says through huge tears.

"King of the Jungle?" The Scarecrow asks in disbelief.

"King of the Cowards!" The Tinman amends.

"Man, you oughta be ashamed of yourself! Scarin' us like that for no reason! You're nothin' but a big ol' scaredy-cat!" I tell the Lion.

"I-I can't scare anything! Not even a Scarecrow, or a Tinman, or even a couple of little girls!" He sits down heavily on a log. "Oh, it's no wonder they drummed me out of the jungle. I.O.B.K.!" He moans, slapping his tail against the ground for every letter of the acronym.

"I.O.B.K.?" The Scarecrow repeats, confused.

"Incapable of being king!" The Lion explains, causing the Scarecrow to scoff and turn away. The four of us sit on a few rocks nearby, and the Lion calls out after us: "No, wait, wait!" He crawls after us pitifully. We all pointedly keep our eyes away from him. "I was exiled in disgrace! I thought I'd be safe here . . . no one would discover my terrible secret." The four of us look at him at the same time and scoot closer to him, nodding encouragingly. "Uh . . ." the Lion gulps, "that I'm a Lion without any courage!" He sobs again, throwing himself onto the floor, and burying his head in his paws.

The Scarecrow pulls a small piece of paper out from inside of him, and reads it. "'Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.' W. Shakespeare."

After a moment, the Lion pulls himself together, and sits on a nearer log, as we all follow him. "I tried gettin' help from this ol' owl, but all he did is make me lie down on a couch, ask me a bunch of silly questions, like 'What do you want?', 'Why are you here?', 'What do you think this means?' I said I think this means you ripped me off! 'Cause I gave you money, but you ain't give me nothin'!"

"Oh, you poor thing!" Dorothy says, sitting next to him, the big Lion's sob story pulling at her heartstrings.

"Well, this has been a strange day. I thought it couldn't get any stranger; but here I am, talkin' to a Lion without any courage!" I sit on his other side, placing my hand on his knee. He reminds me so much of Pops from the farm. Pops was scared of everything, too.

"Great, now I got little girls pityin' me." He points at us, shaking his head.

"It could be worse," my cousin says comfortingly, "at least this forest is a nice home."

I cock my head at her, confused. What is she trying to say? That Mama's house ain't good enough for her? But before I can open my mouth, the Tinman speaks.

"Yeah, and you still got your heart."

"And a brain," the Scarecrow adds softly.

"But what's the use of all that if you ain't got the courage to get up outta bed?"

"Well, maybe," I say, "just maybe, if you came with us to see the Wiz, he might be able to give you courage."

"Just like that?" The Lion asks, amazed.

"I don't see why not," my cousin says, shrugging, "I mean, he's gonna get us two home, give the Tinman a heart, and the Scarecrow a brain."

"I'd love to, but I can't." The Lion admits.

"Why not?" I ask.

"Because I'm scared!" The Lion sobs again.

I motion for Dorothy to say something to cheer him up, but she shakes her head and motions for me to say something. I glare at her, my eye twitching, but sigh in defeat.

"Oh there may be times," I sing softly, tenderly to the Lion, "when you wish you wasn't born,"

"And you wake one mornin' just to find your courage gone!" The Scarecrow comes in hard, dancing and everything.

My four companions sing the third verse of the song about easin' on down the road, but I don't sing again. I really hate singing in front of people; it makes me nervous. I take this opportunity to instead lead the group in my best dance moves. The Lion tries to run away at one point, but I grab his tail to keep him from going too far. So apparently, we've just gained a new traveling companion. That's good and bad.