Set a Purpose

Find out what the narrator thinks about lions.

I’M GOING TO TELL YOU the lion story. Where I live in northern Kenya, the lion is a symbol of bravery and pride. Lions have a special presence. If you kill a lion, you are respected by everyone. Other warriors even make up songs about how brave you are. So it is every warrior’s dream to kill a lion at one point or another. Growing up, I’d had a lot of interaction with wild animals—elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, hyenas. But at the time of this story—when I was about 14—I’d never come face-to-face with a lion, ever. I’d heard stories from all the young warriors who told me, “Wow, you know yesterday we chased this lion—” bragging about it. And I always said, “Big deal.” What’s the big deal about a lion? It’s just another animal. If I can defend myself against elephants or rhinos, I thought, why not a lion?

I was just back from school for vacation. It was December, and there was enough rain. It was green and beautiful everywhere. The cows were giving plenty of milk. In order to get them away from ticks, the cattle had been taken down to the lowlands. There’s good grass there, though it’s drier than in the high country, with some rocks here and there. There are no ticks, so you don’t have to worry about the health of the cattle, but the area is known for its fierce lions. They roam freely there, as if they own the land.