When the lion finally got back,
One of the men pulled out a sack,
Which he’d been carrying on his back,
And lay it on the floor, open.
The lion just walked into it,
But when he realised what he’d done,
He tried to run.

It was no use,
‘Cause one of the men was carrying a gun,
Which he pressed to the lion’s head.
“One move and you’re dead meat”, he said.
The lion yelled and then calmed himself down,
Whilst the three young men carried him away.

They took him to their hut,
Which was on the edge of a forest,
And at the bottom of a hill.
They walked inside,
Carrying the lion with them,
And dropped him on the table.

They let the lion out,
And the lion started to shout:
“You bastards, how could you do that?
I’m only a poor cat,
And I wouldn’t hurt a soul.”

One of the men picked up a bowl,
And gave it to the lion,
Saying: “We are truly sorry, Mister Lion,
But you see, we are very poor,
And we need food to eat
And we all like lion meat.
Now here’s a bowl of cat food.
Eat it quick and fatten yourself up,
‘Cause I’m getting hungry.”

The lion just growled,
And proceeded to eat from the bowl.
The food was bad,
But he ate it all.

Another of the men pulled out a rope
Which he tied round the lion’s neck,
And then pulled tight.
The lion died immediately, in fright,
But as he died his face turned white.

One of the men kneeled down and took a bite
From his neck.
It tasted good,
Although he did prefer food that was from a can.
He then looked down
And saw that the lion had become a man.
The man was alive,
And he was carrying a knife.
He said: “Say goodbye to your life, matey.”
With that he proceeded to stab himself.

The three young men were sad,
So they put him on the shelf,
And now they look at him
To remind them of their good health.


© 2000 Matt Everett