The Adventures of Parsley the Lion by Michael Bond

Author:Michael Bond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

One day Parsley the lion was out for a walk in the Herb Garden when he came across an enormous seashell lying slap bang in the middle of one of the paths.

After peering at it from behind a bush for a minute or two he crept closer and closer towards it on his stomach, gently eased up one corner in order to make sure there was nothing hiding underneath and then decided to consult his book.

‘I am quietly confident,’ he announced to himself, and to anyone else who happened to be within earshot, ‘that under “sea”, shells will lie the answer!’

Parsley had never known his book to let him down. Between its covers it had everything about everything, and there, sure enough, just where he had said it would be, was a picture of a large shell exactly like the one he’d found.

It was called a ‘conch’ shell, and the book went on to say that if you blew into it you could make a noise like a foghorn. It also said that sometimes, if you put your ear to it, you could even hear the sound of the sea.

Parsley tried listening, first at one end of the shell and then at the other, but he couldn’t hear a thing, so he decided to try blowing into it instead and to his surprise a noise just like a ship’s siren came out the other end.

He gave it a second blow, and then another. ‘Hmmmmmmmmph! Hmmmmmmmmmph!’ It really was most impressive.

He was just in the middle of his third go when there was a bark and Dill the dog hurried on to the scene.

‘Did you call?’ he panted. ‘I say, what have you got there?’

‘A conch shell,’ said Parsley carelessly, breaking off in mid-honk.

‘Can you eat it?’ asked Dill eagerly.

‘Can you eat it?’ repeated Parsley. ‘Can you eat it?’

‘Well?’ demanded Dill. ‘Can you?’

‘No,’ said Parsley firmly. ‘You can’t!’ He put his mouth to it again and blew. ‘But you can use it as a horn.’ Then he sat down on top of it. ‘And it makes a very good seat. And it says in my book that if you listen hard enough you can sometimes hear the sound of the sea.’

‘Can you really?’ exclaimed Dill. ‘May I have a go?’

Parsley gave a superior sort of laugh. ‘If you like,’ he said. ‘But I’m afraid it’s not really meant for dogs. You have to be particularly sensitive.’ He consulted his book again as he changed places with Dill. ‘It says so here. “It is only given to a lucky few,” it says, and if I can’t hear anything I’m sure you—’

‘Do be quiet a moment!’ Dill’s tail began to wag violently to and fro as he put his ear to the shell. ‘I say, it’s jolly good, isn’t it? It sounds as though it’s high tide.’ He looked up. ‘What were you saying just now?’

‘Er … nothing,’ said Parsley. ‘Er … may I have it again for a moment?’

Pushing Dill to one side, he put his head to the shell.

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