The herder was just a boy with a big flock of sheep that his father had gifted him. The sun was high in the sky as they roamed around the meadows like he had been taught. He was on his own now, a man in his mind, pride swelling in his chest as the flock grew wool and fat, safe and sound, just like before.

That’s when the lion attacked. Hiding among the tall grass, green fur blending into nothing, it cut a path of carnage that split his flock into mindless ruminants, running in every which way as the light of the sun began to fade. His father never warned him against such a beast. There was blood and guts and tumbling wool. The night crept upon the boy who didn’t know whom to follow into the darkness. Calling for the sheep, the boy listened for distant baas, but silence was his only answer.

Desperation grew into resignation, and the boy hobbled aimlessly in shame until he came by a lake reflecting the seven bright stars in the sky. He sat beside it and began to cry. As the tears made little clumps of sand between his legs, the surface of the water began to stir. Out of it rose the green lion, who walked up to the failed herder and said nothing.

“Are you going to kill me now?” the boy asked.

“Is that what you want?” the lion asked in return.

“No,” the boy answered.

“Why do you wish to live then?”

The boy thought for a moment. He had nothing left. The herd was gone, the boy a fool. There was no going back home without being the laughingstock of the village. His father would probably disown him for that. Why indeed did he still want to live, if he was such a failure?

“Because I don’t know who I am,” the boy finally answered.

The lion looked at the boy with a red glint in its eye. “Then you have to come with me,” it said, turning away.

It sat in the water, inviting the boy to climb on its back. The boy hesitated for a moment, but the lion snarled at the boy, “Hurry up, or I will gut you like your flock. We have a treasure to find.”

The boy climbed on the lion’s back, grabbing hold of its emerald green mane in terror and excitement, and then the lion leaped, diving into the darkness of the lake on the hunt for a new day.