The
Stray Animals of the Moon
One night a commotion was happening
in the palace. The palace maids were shouting and running along the corridors.
They were shouting words like ‘catch them’ or ‘don’t let them escape’. Queen
Luna came out of her room and demanded to know what was going on; she was not
happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. The maids apologized to the
queen and told her that two stray animals, a cat and a dog, had sneaked their
way into the palace. “Oh dear,” said Queen Luna “they better be caught soon,
otherwise they might break something”.
Meanwhile Serena was woken up by some
scratching noises outside her room. She got out of bed and opened the door to
see what the noise was. The noise wasn’t coming from outside her room, it was
coming from somewhere near her room. She followed the sound of the noise along
the corridor, and then she saw what was making the noise. A light grey dog and
a white cat were scratching at a door that was at the end of the corridor. “What
are you doing?” Serena asked the cat and dog. The cat and dog ran past her, and
then ran down the stairs. “Hey come back here” Serena called out.
Serena was about to chase after the
cat and dog, but the cat and dog got caught by some servants. “Finally we’ve
caught them” said one of the maids. The maids asked Serena if the cat and dog
had broken anything. “No they haven’t broken anything,” said Serena “they have
only scratched the door at the very end of the corridor on the right”. “Oh
that’s okay then,” said the maid “as long as these two haven’t broken anything
valuable that’s okay”. Serena stared at the dog and cat and realized that none
of them had any collars. “These two animals must be stray animals and must have
been searching for food in the castle” she said. “I’ll give this cat and dog
something to eat,” said the maid “but they must be put outside at once; animals
are not allowed in the palace”. This rule was true; animals were forbidden into
the palace in case they would break something.
Next morning, the royal family were
having breakfast. Serena was thinking about the stray cat and dog last night. “Excuse
me mother,” Serena said to her mother “that door, that the stray cat and dog
were scratching last night, at the far end of the corridor on the third floor,
what’s behind that door?” “Oh that door leads to some stairs, which leads up to
the attic of this castle”. “The attic?” said Serena “I don’t think I’ve ever
been in the attic before”. “The attic has lots of old things in there,” Queen
Luna explained “old paintings, old books etc., and all sorts of things”. That
gave Serena an idea; maybe there were statues in the attic. “Can I have a look
round in the attic please mother?” “Of course you can,” said Queen Luna “just
be careful while you’re up there”. “I will mother” replied Serena.
After breakfast, Serena headed to the
door, at the far side of the corridor, on the third floor. She was holding a
candle holder, with three lit candles, because her mother had said that there
was no candle lighting in the attic. Once she opened the door, she saw the
stairs, went up them and entered the attic. The attic was very dark and quiet
and it was full of cobwebs and dust. There were also old paintings, old trunks
full of things like old books, old clothes, old china, decorations for special
events like christmas and birthdays, and many other old things.
So far Serena didn’t see any statues,
but after looking between some trunks she found two statues. There was a wolf
statue and a lion statue, and they looked almost real; so real Serena thought
they looked frightening. The wolf statue was dark grey coloured and the lion
statue was bronze coloured. “I should ask mother to have these statues moved
into the palace garden,” she said to herself “I mean they look so real, I think
they could frighten off intruders”. Serena looked at the bases of the wolf and lion
statues, and there, between the two front feet of the wolf and lion, were two
dull looking beads. “I thought that there might be some moon beads in here”
said Serena, happily.
After gathering the dull beads,
Serena left the attic at once to search for the dull beads owners. ‘I think I
may have an idea of who these two dull beads belong to’ she thought, blowing
out the candles. Serena was thinking that maybe the beads belonged to the stray
cat and dog from last night? To see if she was right, Serena went out into the
palace gardens and called out for the dog and cat. “I do hope that the cat and
dog are still here” she said. At that moment the cat and dog appeared in front
of her. Serena bent down on her knees and held out the two dull looking beads.
The cat and dog ran over to her and stared at the beads in her hand, and then
suddenly they began to glow and change. The cat turned into a white lion and
the dog turned into a grey and white wolf.
Serena felt very nervous of the Moon
Lion and Moon Wolf; she knew very well that lions and wolves were dangerous.
The Moon Lion and Moon Wolf went over to Serena. Serena braced herself; she
feared that they would attack her. But they didn’t attack her; they nuzzled her
instead. Serena was relieved that the Moon Lion and Moon Wolf weren’t attacking
her and she stroked them on the heads. “I’m glad you two aren’t dangerous” she
said to them. The Moon Wolf and Moon Lion liked Serena and kept on nuzzling her
to be stroked some more.
Suddenly the Moon Fairy and Moon Archer
came out of their moon beads. Once the Moon Lion and Moon Wolf saw the Moon
Fairy and Moon Archer, they ran over to them at once. The Moon Fairy happily
hugged the Moon Lion, and the Moon Archer petted the Moon Wolf like crazy. This
scene made Serena realize that the Moon Lion was the Moon Fairy’s animal
partner, and the Moon Wolf was the Moon Archer’s animal partner. “I’m glad I
was able to find your animal partners” she said to them. “We thank you for
finding Moon Lion and Moon Wolf for us Serena” said the Moon Fairy. “Yes thank
you” said the Moon Archer. The Moon Lion growled and Moon Wolf howled to say
thank you. Then the four moon spirits went back into their beads.
As soon as the four moon spirits went
back into the beads, a maid came up to Serena. “Please excuse me your
highness,” the maid said “but some stray animals are running loose in the
palace, and we need help with catching them”. “Which stray animals is it this
time?” asked Serena. “Some rabbits” said the maid. “Oh well,” said Serena “at
least it’s not as bad as having stray cats and dogs in the palace”. Then she
went with the maid to catch the stray rabbits.
