Prince Avar’s Transformation
By
Valerie L. Egar
Prince
Avar was destined to rule the Kingdom of Firth, his coronation was written in
the stars. Knowing he would someday be their king, the people of Firth watched
him grow. They hoped to see leadership and compassion. They wished for kindness
and courage.
Instead, they
noticed Avar was fierce and, when he didn’t get his own way, ruthless. He liked power, but his heart was not
tempered with love. He didn’t feel joy. Like most tyrants, he never laughed. The
citizens of Firth bemoaned the day when Avar would become king.
Deep in the woods
in a lonely part of the Kingdom, an old crone sat at a primitive table and
observed Avar in her crystal ball. She knew it was best not to meddle in the affairs
of humans and usually, she refrained. Still, Avar’s behavior pained her and she
saw terrible destruction ahead if he became king.
The crone had the
power to move rivers and crumble mountains, but there was one thing she
couldn’t do. She was unable to change a human’s heart— only Avar could change that. Since she couldn’t
cast a spell and change Avar into a different kind of person, she did what was
within her power. She turned him into a lion.
But, as Avar began
his 21st year as a lion, he found himself circling the city more
often, trying to glance in people’s windows to see what they were doing. He began
to remember stories his father told him and wished he’d paid more attention. He
listened for music and people’s laughter. He didn’t understand laughter. Lions
roared and growled. They coughed and sneezed, but never did they laugh.
All this time, the
old woman had watched the lion in her crystal ball. She smiled when she saw Avar
sitting at the edge of the city watching people. “It’s time,” she thought.
The following day,
as the lion wandered through the forest, he came upon the woman. He roared, but
the woman was unafraid. “You’re wondering what it will take to become human
again, aren’t you?"
Avar nodded. It
had crossed his mind more than once.
“Already your
heart is changing,” she said. “You yearn
for laughter and companionship. You’re thinking about other people, not
yourself.”
“How will it
happen?” he asked.
“Sudden as a
streak of lightening,” she said. “I don’t know when, but I suspect it will be soon."
From a distance,
he watched a man lift his old dog into a cart and pat its head gently.
Avar began to
notice more and more: three children, sharing a bag of candy. A flower blooming
between the cracks of a rock. A horse licking its newborn foal. An old shepherd
leaning against a tree, face to the sun.
The lion felt
fluttering in his chest he’d never before felt.
He continued
observing, aware that in all his years, he’d noticed so little. His heart
started to fill with the beauty of all he saw around him.
One day, as he lay
in the sun, a fly landed on his tail. He tried to swat it, but could not reach
the tip of his tail. He stood, and round and round he went, chasing his tail,
trying to catch the fly. Faster and faster he spun until he was dizzy. All of a
sudden, he was rolling down a hill.
Avar closed his
eyes and started to laugh. He laughed and laughed and, as he laughed, his heart
pounded harder and harder. All of his fierceness fell away and when he opened
his eyes, he was transformed back into a man. His heart was new and worthy of a
King who would lead his Kingdom with compassion.
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Copyright 2017 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be copied or reproduced without permission from the author.
Published November 12, 2017 Journal Tribune Sunday (Biddeford, ME).
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