The Journey of Nala


	You wouldn’t have needed to ask Nala how she felt. It was shown in her 
face. Her eyes that were once the bright and shining eyes of a happy lioness 
became the dark and gray eyes of a depressed lioness. Her expression showed 
that she was losing hope, that sorrow had taken over. A tear dropped from 
her eye to the dusty earth.
	Sarabi saw Nala’s tears and sat beside her.
	“Nala, dearest…”
	Nala whimpered softly. “Sarabi, I’m so scared. I feel like there’s no hope 
left.”
	“I know, Nala. But you must have faith. If you lose it, things will surely 
remain the same. But….” She looked into Nala’s eye as she finished, “If you 
have faith, and try to do something about it, you can make a difference. We 
will win, Nala! Good things will happen in the Pridelands again.”
	Nala smiled at her. “Sarabi, you’ve been like a second mother to me. 
Through all this ordeal, you’ve still been kind and encouraging to the ones 
you love. Thank you.” They nuzzled.
	“What are you stupid lions waiting for?” a hyena who noticed they weren’t 
hunting yelled. “Get to the hunt! Now! You know how the king feels about 
slackers!”
Hanging their heads, Sarabi and Nala trudged off. Nala quickly whispered, “I 
will do something about this, Sarabi. I will make a difference!”

Finta panted heavily. Exhaustion, hunger and thirst had become too much for 
her and she collapsed in the dust. Nala rushed to her side.
“Finta, are you all right?”
“Nala, I need water.” She gasped.  Nala carried her to the water hole that 
wasn't much more than a puddle. Nala wished that she could have a bit but 
her thirsty companion finished it off. Nala didn’t mind though. She could 
get by.

“Nala!” a voice Nala easily recognized snarled. “What now, Scar?”
she said impatiently. “Quit slacking off. You’re behind the others. Get back 
to the hunt!”
	“There is nothing to hunt! Because of you, it’s all dead!” she snapped 
back. She glared at him.
	“You will not talk back to me!” yelled Scar.
	“Do you see Finta? She’s nearly dead from dehydration! You’re killing her, 
Scar! You’re killing every creature in the Pridelands!”
	“No!” Scar screamed. “I am a great king! You will not disobey me!” he gave 
her a threatening look.
	Nala whispered to Finta, “Good luck.” And ran off in the other direction.
	“You are a coward!” Scar screamed. “Fine! Leave! I don’t need you in my 
kingdom anyway!” Finta scurried away. Scowling, Scar stormed off.

	Tears were in Nala’s eyes. “What did I just do?” she thought in disbelief. 
“Am I running away? How can I do that? I must be crazy!”
But as she ran in the hot aafternoon sun, she felt a knawing feeling of 
hunger in her stomach. “I need food!” she thought. She stopped in the tall 
grass.
She sensed that there was food nearby, she could feel the moist air. “There 
must be water….” She thought. As she darted her eyes around to search for 
signs of life, she notice a large warthog sniffing around for insects. 
“Food!” she thought and she slowly positioned herself to catch the animal. 
She moved slowly towards it. But the warthog saw her. Squealing, it ran off. 
“I’m not gonna lose my lunch this easily!” Nala decided and persued the hog.
Squealing, the warthog , kept running from her until it ran under a tree
root and got stuck. She got closer and closer. She almost had the warthog 
when another lion came out of nowhere and attacked her, trying to protect 
his warthog friend. She fought him back, scratching and tearing and 
growling. But she was quicker than the other cat and pinned him easily.
	The other lion had a look of surprise in his eyes.
	“Nala?”
	Nala quickly got off of the other lion and backed away.
	“Is it really you?” the stranger asked.
	“Who are you?”
	“It’s me, Simba.”
	“Simba?” she then realized it was really him.
	“WOW!” And she and her childhood friend embraced.



                              END- October 7, 2000





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