The group continued walking in the twisting valley, amidst the fragrant aroma of fig, pine and orange trees. After a refreshing but exhausting walk on this bright sunny day, they reached a smooth rocky surface, washed of its soil by the winter stream, and adjacent to a belt of trees, whose long lively branches formed a sheltering dome. The sweaty and tired kids decided to rest for a while in this cool shade.

Without wasting too much time, they fervently opened their neatly arranged lunch bags and devoured their goat cheese, za’tar and tomato sandwiches. All of a sudden, a wild bellow of an owl pierced their ears, and before they could blink, an eagle came down from the sky like lightning, grabbing the helpless but resisting owl with his powerful clamps, paralyzing it, and flying away with it towards the horizon. Moments later, the bewildered children heard an unmistaken roar of a lion, from the same spot that the eagle flew to. They could not see anything, neither could they determine what might have happened.

Though terrified, the kids started walking again after a long period of silence had passed, reassuring them that they were no longer in danger. They had to reach the old oak tree to cut one of its hard straight branches and trim it, to make a smooth cane out of it. They had promised the kind old man with a hunchback, who lives alone in an old mud house, to replace his stolen cane. The wicked Nizar had stolen that cane, although he knew that it was indispensable to the weak poor man. He simply could not care less. When Shireen offered the man some money to buy a new cane, he politely declined, as he always had in similar situations.

Nizar was not nasty with the old man alone, he also once broke the glass of Um-Ismail’s house with stones, just for fun. On top of everything else, Nizar was lazy at school, mean to everyone, and even smoked behind his parents’ backs. He tried several times with Shireen and her friends, to talk them into accepting him into their clique, but his continuously disappointing behaviour denied him any chance at that. When Nizar found out about their planned trip to the oak tree, he begged to join them, and promissed to change, but his long record of broken promises did not help him much, especially since he was the one who stole the old man’s cane to start with.

The old man also needed some ‘maramiyeh’ herbs for his chronic stomach pains, and only the kids can bring him the herbs from the valley, as he was too fragile to make this long tiresome trip. When Husni promised the man that he and his friends would fetch the cure for him from the shrubs near the oak tree, a wide smile made its way onto his warm wrinkled face. Seconds later, the man’s smile dried out, and was quickly replaced with a frown of fear, and he said in a crackling voice: “no, please do not go, I can manage somehow.” After the persistent interrogation of the group, the old man decided to tell them the mysterious story about the valley and the oak tree.

“There is a vicious monster who dwells in the cave near the oak tree. He has spread fear and misery in the hearts of many around here, but nothing matches his savage kidnapping of ‘Carnation’, the gorgeous little princess,” the man said to his thunderstruck audience. “Her parents, and the entire village have tried to find her, but in vain,” he deliberately added. Shireen asked: “Why couldn’t they find her?” He answered: “because no one knows how to overcome the monster, no one has ever succeeded in getting close to where he lives”. Shireen said quite confidently: “but, I know that such a monster can be killed if he sees his image in a mirror. The mere sight of his evil soul in the mirror will make him burn into a ball of fire.” She persuasively added: “I’ve heard this from my grand parents, but no one believed me when I told them.”

After that story, and some following debate, the friends were convinced more than ever to go ahead with their trip, especially that now they had a far more challenging task before them. They decided to take along a mirror, together with large sticks, as a precaution, and their faithful dog, ‘Rix’.

Shireen, Husni, Salwa, Muna, Issam and Bassil resumed their trip with determination and energy. They could not after all let down the old man, nor would they fall prey to fear and hesitation. On their way towards the oak tree, they passed a narrow winding dirt road, which looked from a distance like a sleeping reddish brown snake; following that they started ascending up another path, when unexpectedly Shireen stepped on a hard object and almost tripped. Examining the object, Shireen and her friends concluded that it was a bone. Nervously looking around, they discovered that the whole area was littered with bones, of different sizes and shapes. Shireen shrieked in warning: “Welcome to monster land, we are pretty close now to the beast.” Salwa instinctively picked up the mirror, and said in a bold tone: “Huh, let him show up now, and I’ll stick the mirror to his face and make him go up in flames.”

Shireen cautioned her: “ but he knows that the mirror can kill him, so he will evade it and attack us.” “So, we ought to approach him while sleeping,” concluded Muna; “ as soon as he opens his eye-lids, we raise the mirror in front of its face,” she added.

Seeing a dark cave and a huge oak tree not too far from where they were standing, the team started inching silently and carefully towards the home of the abominable monster. The indecisiveness and fear rapidly gave way to a strong sense of resolve and purpose. When they became a stone-throw away from the cave, they looked in awe at a beautiful snow-white filly, tied with harsh tight ropes to the oak tree, near the cave’s entrance. As soon as the frightened filly noticed the kids, it shrilled in a way that suggested that it was crying, almost in a human way. The saddened kids started wondering in soft hardly audible voices: “Why is the filly crying?” “It must be because it is in bondage,” responded Bassil, but his words drifted away without attracting anyone’s attention, all their ears and senses were aroused by a strange scary sound coming from the cave; and without prior thinking, each one of them withdrew slowly and hid behind a nearby tree.

After a very tense period of silence, Shireen peeped at the cave, and was mesmerized to see a lion like no other, by far larger than any she has ever seen, even on television. Rix was about to bark, when Shireen held his shoulder in an unmistakably commanding way, immediately restraining him. Without challenging her order, Rix understood that Shireen must have had a good reason, so he lay down peacefully. The agitated lion stared at the filly, and emitted what clearly looked like red sparks from his fearsome eyes, in a sign of rage at the poor creature. The filly immediately tried to ease his anger explaining in a charming girl’s voice: “It wasn’t me, it was a passing crow which made this noise that disturbed you.” Surprisingly enough, the still drowsy lion was convinced and headed back to his cave to resume his sleep.

Shireen and her friends were so puzzled at that point, they could not comprehend what was happening. “How could a horse speak like humans?” Shireen wondered. She asked her friends to remain quiet in their hiding places, while she went to find out more about this whole thing. She jumped forward towards the filly, followed by her best protector, Rix. The young horse understood Shireen’s intentions and kept calm. When Shireen reached the filly and carefully caressed her little bright nose and forehead, the horse felt completely relaxed and safe.

- “Who are you, and why does he keep you imprisoned?”, asked Shireen

- “I am ‘Carnation’, the princess, and he is the monster that everyone fears. He abducted me, and tied me to prevent me from escaping. He is waiting for me to grow up, so that he can force me to marry him. This way he can become king and control the entire village,” answered the young horse.

- “Do you want to go back to your mother?”

- “Of course; however, I cannot turn back into a human except if he dies.”

- “Who? the lion?”

- “He is not just a lion, he in a monster who appears once as an eagle, another as a snake with two heads, and yet other times as a wild lion”

Shireen immediately remembered the strange noise that she and her friends heard during their trip, soon after they saw the eagle snatching the owl and flying away. Only now can she put the whole puzzle together. That eagle was actually the monster himself.

- “So how can we get rid of him?” asked Shireen

- “I have no clue,” said the filly, “but he is sleeping now; I can hear him snoring. Beware of the evil cat that guards him, for as soon as she smells you, she will warn him and he’ll finish you off. She sits by the opening of the cave, while he sleeps inside, in the front room of the cave.”

- “But, how then can we surprise him?”

- “Well, the only possible way is to sneak through a hole in the back of the cave, walk carefully through the dark tunnel separating it from the front of the cave, and then you can attack him while sleeping”

Shireen had a thorough look at the hole, and found it to be about four meters high, but there were some stone steps that could lead to it.

After her successful exploration mission, Shireen went back to the group to fill them in on all the details. The group withdrew to a more remote area, where they could discuss the next step openly, away from the ears of the monster and his attentive guard. Shireen explained the whole story to her alert colleagues, then added: “The only way is to climb the stone steps to the hole, get into the back room of the cave, and slowly crawl through the dark tunnel to the front of the cave.” “We should beware the evil cat that guards the monster,” she added. After taking a short breath, she said: “I think I have the right solution for this cat,” and she looked at Rix, who seemed happy with the sudden attention, without knowing what awaited him. “He can scare the cat off, if he leads the convoy; as soon as she smells him, she will flee in the other direction.” Everyone smiled in approval.

Each one in the group started silently thinking, and exchanging gestures and looks with everyone else. None could hide their nervousness, or their anxiety, but they all felt good that they were together in this, committed and courageous. Muna said: “I want to carry the mirror;” but Husni jumped in: “I think I can handle it better, Muna.” “I think we all want to participate collectively; together we can certainly do it,” said Bassil in a triumphant tone, trying to encourage his colleagues. After going over every detail of their plan, they all got up, hugged each other, and started their attack to free Carnation, taking along their sticks, just in case the mirror did not do the job.

Going on a detour around the cave, the group reached the steps leading to the hole. They helped each other climb the treacherous steps, and after a hectic effort, they all made it to the back room of the cave safely. As planned, Rix led the group in order to scare off the cat, and make it run to the outside; and as soon as he came close to the front of the cave, the cat did indeed detect him and fled rapidly away. Using only their touching and hearing senses, the kids crawled through the totally dark tunnel with maximum caution. When they started seeing some light, they knew that they were within meters from the front of the cave, where the beast was deeply seelping.

Without warning, Bassil accidentally stepped on some squeaking chains, that he could not possibly see in the dark. The lion started moving his tail, indicating that he was about to wake up. The whole group realized that unless they moved very fast, seconds separated them from their death. They all dashed forward and raised the mirror right in front of the monster’s eyes, right before his heavy eye-lids started opening. Caught by total surprise, the lion opened his eyes only to see his evil soul in the mirror held before him. He let out a deafening cry, and ignited in flames. Seconds later, only his dark red ashes remained. The totally tired group had no more energy to jump in celebration, but their uncontrollable tears expressed their overwhelming sense of relief, happiness and victory.

They raced out of the cave towards the filly, and could not believe their eyes: a wonderful princess stood before them, in her royal gown, crown and all the trimmings. They embraced her, and everyone unconsciously started dancing to the tunes of the trees, the birds and their own souls. Shireen even ululated for the first time ever, drawing laughter from the rest. Not forgetting the old man, they all started collecting maramiyeh, and Husni climbed the oak tree to pick a good solid branch. The brave kids returned to the village, holding their heads up high in pride: they did after all bring back the princess, the new cane and the maramiyeh.