The Friendly Lion

Written by Sharon Axelrod

Pictures from Pics4Learning.com

Audio Read Aloud by Sharon Axelrod

Created with CAST's UDL Book Builder


monkeys
Lion loved to watch the monkeys chittering away in the treetops.  He wanted to have friends just like them.  They seemed to have such fun jumping here and there from vine to vine.  There were always at least 3 or 4 of them communicating with each other.
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monkeys together
Lion never had friends whom he could join because the lions stayed far away from each other once they were no longer cubs.  Lions didn't groom each other, cuddle up together, or show each other the best spots for food the way the monkeys did.  Lion decided he would have to join the monkeys.
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Lion tried to jump from tree to tree like they did, but his great size prevented him.  Lion tried to imitate the sounds he heard the monkeys make to one another but his voice was too low and deep. 

Lion
Lion tried to get the monkeys to play with him but his sharp teeth scared them away.  Sadly, Lion went to think of his poor plight.
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Snake
While he was thinking, Lion saw a large snake slither around one of the trees toward the monkeys.    He moved closer to find out the snake's intentions.   Snake hissed at Lion to  move out of the way so that he could sink his fangs into those monkeys.
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Lion Protecting monkeys
Lion used his large body to block Snake from the trees where the monkeys were playing.  Snake did not seem deterred, so Lion roared with his loudest deepest voice to scare Snake away.  The monkeys heard Lion trying to stop Snake and turned to watch.  Snake shook in fear, but still tried to glide around Lion to get to the monkeys.  Finally, Lion had no choice but to use his sharp teeth to bite Snake's tail. 
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Monkeys on the ground
Snake slithered away as fast and as far as he could.  From that day on, the monkeys knew Lion would protect them.  They came down to the ground to join him whenever he wanted to play.   Lion was happy because he knew that even though he could never be a monkey he could be a friend.
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