Help me to illustrate this story. We could even make this into a contest, if you like. I don't have any prizes to give out, but you could be famous! :)
Help me to illustrate this story. We could even make this into a contest, if you like. I don't have any prizes to give out, but you could be famous! :)
Not so long ago, and not really very far away, there was this little girl who was an orphan. She was not very pretty, nor was she particularly clever, or intelligent. She was a good little girl, but that didn't show... There was not much that would make anybody choose her for adoption - not at first glance, anyway.The orphanage where she lived was chronically short staffed. Everybody was too busy to keep a check on where the hundred or so children were all the time. The little girl used to slip out of the garden, and go for long walks in the woods behind the stark, ugly buildings of the orphanage.
The woods were beautiful and quiet, a haven for the little girl where she could indulge in daydreams, a private world of her own where nobody could hurt her. On a sunny spring day, she slipped out as usual, and ran to the woods in search of flowers.
....
It had been a long and very cold winter in the mountains. The black wolf had been hard pressed to survive, to find enough to eat. He had wandered far from his usual hunting grounds, searching ever further down the mountainside for food. Even when spring came with its usual floods and rains, food was scarce.
One fine spring morning, he found himself in the woods behind the orphanage, with the smell of food strong in his nostrils. He followed the scent along a barely discernible footpath, moving like a soundless shadow among the trees, to a small clearing.
The little girl sat in the clearing, plaiting blades of grass into ribbons for her hair. She didn't see the huge black wolf that was stealthily approaching her, until he was right in front of her, and ready to spring. When she saw him, she wasn't afraid, just curious - she had never seen a wolf before.
The wolf and the girl stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. One was seeing a huge animal with beautiful, green eyes, and shiny black coat that begged to be stroked. The other was seeing a morsel of food.
The wolf moved first. He put out his long red tongue, and licked his food, the little girl's face, for a taste, before settling to the serious business of eating. He was unbelievably hungry.
The little girl took a deep, quivering breath that seemed to catch in her throat, and started crying. She touched trembling fingers to her cheek where the wolf had licked her, and whispered, "You kissed me!" She threw her arms around the wolf's neck on impulse. "Nobody's ever kissed me before! Oh, whatever you are, you are soo beautiful."
She hugged the wolf closer, burying her face in his soft, glossy fur, stroking his fur with gentle hands, murmuring softly in in his ear, "I love you. You kissed me, no one's ever kissed me before, I love you!"
The wolf stood stock-still for a moment in surprise. Then he sighed in resignation; he was thinking of another hungry night as he settled with his great head in the little girl's lap. You see, nobody had ever hugged him, or stroked his fur so gently, ever before, and he was finding that he liked it!
For the first time in their respective lives, they were both very happy.