I looked up at the honours boards around the dining hall, at the names of all the boys who had won scholarships over the years. I looked for Bertie Andrews. He wasn’t there. But then, I thought, why should he be? Maybe, like me, he wasn’t brilliant at his school work. Not everyone wins scholarships.
Cookie – Mr Cook, my history teacher – was sitting beside me at the end of my table. “Who were you looking for, Morpurgo?” he asked suddenly.
“Andrews, sir,” I said. “Bertie Andrews.”
“Andrews? Andrews? There’s an Albert Andrews who won the Victoria Cross in the First World War. You mean him?” Cookie scraped his bowl clean and licked the back of his spoon. “I love raspberry jam. You’ll find his name in the chapel, under the East Window, under the War memorial. But he wasn’t killed in the war, you know. He lived down at Strawbridge, that place with the lion on the gateway, just across the main road. He died, maybe ten, twelve years ago, soon after I came to teach here. The only old boy ever to win the VC. That’s why they put up a memorial plaque to him in the chapel after he died. I remember the day his wife came to unveil it – his widow, I should say. Poor dear, just herself and her dog in that great big place. She died only a few months later. Broken heart, they say. You can, you know. You can die of a broken heart. That house has been empty ever since. No family to take it on. No one wants it. Too big, you see. Shame.”
I said I wanted to be excused, to go to the toilet. I hurtled down the passage, out across the courtyard and into the chapel. The small brass plaque was exactly where Cookie had said it was, but hidden by a vase of flowers. I moved the vase to one side. The plaque read:
ALBERT ANDREWS VC
BORN 1897. DIED 1968.
AN OLD BOY OF THIS SCHOOL.
AND THE LION SHALL LIE DOWN
WITH THE LAMB.
All night long I tried to puzzle it out. Cookie was wrong. He just had to be. I never slept a wink.
Adonis Blues
The next afternoon after games were over, I went over the fence at the bottom of the park, hared up through Innocents Breach, across the road, along the wall and slipped through the iron gateway with the stone lion roaring above me. It was raining a light summer rain.
I tried knocking at the front door. No one came. No dog barked. I went round to the back and peered in through the kitchen window. The box kite was still there on the kitchen table, but there was no sign of the old lady anywhere. I rattled the kitchen door, and knocked louder, again and again. I called out: “Hello! Hello!” There was no reply. I banged on the window. “Are you there? Are you there?”
“We all are,” came a voice from behind me. I turned. There was no one there. I was alone, alone with the white lion on the hillside. I had imagined it.
I climbed the hill and went to sit in the grass above the white of the lion’s mane. I looked down at the great house beneath me. Jackdaws cawed overhead. There was bracken and grass growing out of the gutters and around the chimney pots. Some of the windows were boarded up. Drainpipes hung loose and rusting. The place was empty, quite empty.
The rain suddenly stopped and the sun warmed the back of my neck. The first butterfly landed on my arm. It was blue. “Adonis Blues, Adonis Blues,” came the voice again, like an echo in my head. Then the sky around me was filled with butterflies, and they were settling to drink on the chalk.
“Adonis Blues, remember?” The same voice, a real voice, her voice. And this time I knew it was not in my head. “Keep him white for us, there’s a dear. We don’t want him forgotten, you see. And think of us sometimes, won’t you?”
“I will,” I cried. “I will.”
And I swear I felt the earth tremble beneath me with the roar of a distant lion.
Top Ten Lion Facts
White lions really do exist! They live in South Africa and they are a special kind of lion. They aren’t albino and they don’t have red eyes. They are so rare that there are perhaps fifty left in the wild, but there are a few in zoos around the world.
Lions are the only cats to live in a group.
A group of lions is called a ‘pride’ and there are usually about 8-10 in it.
Lions are the only cats to help each other hunt and look after their babies.
The females are especially good at hunting. Often a lioness will ‘drive’ a group of deer towards the spot where other lionesses are hiding in ambush.
Little cubs are cared for by all the lions, and they play together until they are old enough to take their place in the pride.
Lions sleep up to 20 hours a day.
When lions sprint, they can run at up to 80 kph.
Lions have few enemies. However, they rarely attack elephants or buffalo, unless they are very hungry, and hyenas will kill little cubs or sick lions.
Humans are their greatest threat.
A True Story of a Lion Cub
Some years ago, two friends were in a big department store in London, when they saw a lion cub for sale. The store was keen to get rid of the cub, because it had already escaped once and ripped to shreds a heap of expensive rugs.
John and Ace bought the cub and took him home. They called him Christian. Christian lived in their London flat for a year, but by then he weighed more than a full-grown man. It was time to introduce him back into the wild and they took him to Kenya where he was soon living with a pride of lions. John and Ace were delighted, but also sad. They missed him.
In the end they decided to go back to Kenya to see him one last time. Everyone said this was impossible. Christian might not even be alive any more. But John and Ace went to where they had last seen Christian—and to their amazement, there he was. It was just as if he had known they were coming.
Slowly, he padded up to them and put his paws on their shoulders, licking them as he had done when he was a little cub. They spent several days with him but in the end they had to go home.
After they left, Christian was never seen again.
Why didn’t the
old lady run away
from the lion?
They told her it was
a man-eater.
Survivors!
Here are three amazing stories of people
who have survived in the wild.
JUNGLE HORROR
Teenager Juliane Koepcke was sitting next to her mother in a plane going to Lima, Peru. She was excited because she was going to meet her father. But the plane never made it. Juliane remembers looking out of the window to see the right wing in flames—and then she was whirling in midair.
Three hours later, she woke up, still strapped into her seat, in the middle of the Amazon jungle. All the seats around her were empty. Of the 92 people on board, she was the only one still alive. Although in shock, she remembered her father’s advice: ‘always go downhill in the jungle, because you’ll reach a river and a river means people.’ Juliane staggered through the jungle for ten days until she came across a group of jungle hunters. They were amazed to find a girl in a torn miniskirt and one sandal who had survived so many days and nights alone in the jungle.
ANTARCTIC PERIL
Douglas Mawson was on an expedition to explore Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth. Six hundred miles from base camp, disaster struck. His expedition partner fell down a gap in the rocks with the sledge with all their food and their six strongest dogs, never to return. Douglas struggled on for 3 weeks until he finally arrived back at camp, only to find that the ship taking him home had left six hours earlier. Luckily, the camp was still equipped and there he stayed—for ten months—until the ship was able to come back to rescue him.
MOUNTAIN TERROR
Colby Coombs was on a climbing trip with two friends, when they were hit by an avalanche and knocked off a cliff, 300 metres high. He woke up, six hours later, dangling from his rope with a broken neck, a broken shoulder and ankle. Both his friends had disappeared.
For the next four days, Colby struggled painfully down the mountain and against the odds, he made it. ‘The only way
to survive is to think one step at a time,’ he remembers. ‘If you worry too much, you’re dead.’
Staying Alive in the Wild
Top tips from the experts for keeping going
if you’re stuck in the wilderness.
1. Keep covered up!
You’ll stay warm if it’s cold and dry if it’s wet. You won’t get too thirsty or sunburnt if it’s hot.
2. Make a shelter
Put small branches against a thicker branch. Fill the gaps with dried grass and make sure the opening faces away from the wind.
Find a cave—but make sure it’s empty first!
3. Find water
You need water more than food. Lay a plastic bag in a hollow on the ground. In the morning you’ll find a little dew has collected.
4. Make a fire
Build a little pyramid of dry grass and twigs. It will catch light more quickly.
5. Find food
Only eat fruits and berries that you know are safe or that other creatures have been eating. Now is not the time to take chances!
Pinecone Bird Feeders
You can help birds to survive in the wild too. These
pinecone bird feeders are simple to make in autumn, once
the pinecones fall. The birds will be very grateful for an
extra feed once it gets cold.
You’ll need:
Pinecones (one for each feeder)
Old newspaper
A large jar of peanut butter
A spoon
A bag of birdseed
String
What to do:
Collect some pinecones.
Cover a work surface with old newspapers. Next, spread peanut butter all over each pinecone with a spoon.
Tip the birdseed onto the newspaper. Roll each pinecone in birdseed until it s covered and you can’t see the peanut butter.
Tie a long piece of string around the top of each pinecone.
Get someone to help you hang it up in the branches of a tree. Put it where birds can stay hidden until they dart out to feed. Birds feel in danger if everyone can see them. Make sure that cats can’t get at it, too.
Pet Care Quiz
Try this quiz and see how well you can look after your pet.
1. What does your cat need every day?
Exercise
Cat food
Fresh drinking water
All of these
2. Your pet rats are starting to smell and it’s time to clean their home. What should you put in their cage?
Gravel
Hay
Shredded paper
Wood shavings
3. Your pet isn’t looking well. He’s not eating or drinking and he seems to sleep all the time. Do you?
Show an adult and ask if you can take him to the vet.
Give him some medicine out of the cupboard.
Poke him until he starts to play.
Take no notice. He’ll get better on his own.
4. What should you give your puppy as a treat?
Dog biscuit
Chicken bone
Piece of chocolate
Sausage
5. You are stroking your cat and she starts to wag her tail. Does this mean?
She wants you to keep on doing it.
She wants you to stop. She’s had enough.
She’s hungry.
She wants to go out.
6. You want to get a pet, but you don’t know what to get. Someone offers to take you to the pet shop. Do you?
Go and buy the first pet you see. If you don’t like it, you can always take it back.
Go and buy the first pet you like. You’ll find out how to look after it as you go along.
Say: ‘Thanks, but let me find out a bit more first. I want to choose the right pet for me.’
Check the answers in the back of the book, and add up your score. How did you do?
0-1: You have a lot to learn. You should find out more before you have your own pet.
2: You need to learn about your pets but you want to be a good owner.
3-4: You need to learn a bit more about your pets but you are a kind, responsible owner.
5: You are a great pet owner.
Pet Puzzle
Can you fit all these pets into the criss-cross puzzle? Copy or trace the puzzle on to a piece of paper and start with the longest word.
Riddles
You can pass the time too with a few riddles. When you’ve worked out the answers (or looked in the back of the book!) you can try these on your family and friends.
What grows down when it grows up?
What has legs, but can’t run?
What runs, but never gets anywhere?
What has a neck, but no head?
On Safari
Here’s a game to play on a long and boring car journey. Travelling in the wild to see animals is often called going ‘on safari’. This means going ‘on a journey’ in Swahili, an African language.
The first person says: I went on safari and took: a huge hat.
The second person says: I went on safari and took: A huge hat and a hippopotamus.
The third person says: I went on safari and took: a huge hat, a hippopotamus and a honking horn.
Each person has to remember the whole list and think up a new thing, beginning with the same letter. The first person to make a mistake is the loser. The game can then begin again with a new letter.
Scrambled Animals
Can you unscramble these animals so they can find their way back to the game reserve?
NIOL
EETAHCH
ZERAB
IRAGEFF
POPIH
PHANTELE
Why wouldn’t the lion go
on with the game?
Because he didn’t like the cheetah.
Makes and Bakes
Blue Butterfly Mobile
Make a beautiful blue butterfly mobile to hang up in your house.
What you do:
4 pieces of white paper (about 10 cm wide x 14 cm long)
Scissors
Blue felt tips or blue paint
Needle & thread
An old coat hanger
What you do:
1. Fold one of the pieces of paper in half.
2. Now draw half the shape of a butterfly, like this:
3. Paint it blue.
4. Ask an adult to help you cut out your butterfly. Do this for the other three pieces of paper.
5. Tie a knot in the end of the thread and put the needle through the butterfly’s body, so that you can hold it up and make it ‘fly’. (It’s a good idea to put the thread slightly closer to the head than the tail.)
6. Tie one end of the thread to the hanger. Tie the other three butterflies in the same way. It looks best if the lengths of thread are different.
7. You will have to experiment to make sure that your mobile balances properly. Now hang it up so that the butterflies can ‘fly’ freely on their hanger. You can decorate the hanger, too, with paper flowers, and coloured tape and ribbon.
Safari Flapjacks
A tasty recipe – full of energy and great for taking on adventures!
What you need:
80g soft brown sugar
110g butter
250g porridge oats
3 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 adult to help
What you do:
Ask the adult to put on the oven to 400 F/ Gas Mark 6/ 200C
Now ask the adult to put butter, sugar and golden syrup into a pan and heat until it’s melted. Then the adult must take the saucepan off the heat.
Add the oats, biy by bit, stirning all the time. (The mixture can be a bit stiff.)
Put the mixture into a non-stick tray and spread it evenly.
Ask the adult to put it in the oven and bake for 18 minutes, or until it is golden brown and smelling like toffee.
Take it out and let it cool for 5 minutes. Now cut into slices and take on safar
i – if you can wait long enough!
Why do lions eat raw meat?
Because they never learned to cook.
Answers
Pet Care Quiz
(d) All of these, but don’t overfeed your cat. It’s dangerous for pets to get fat.
(c) Shredded paper. The others can be bad for animals with small, delicate paws.
(a) Never give your pets medicine without adult help. Take your pet to the vet.
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