Title of the book: The Butterfly Lion
Author: Michael Morpurgo 小荷作文网 www.zww.cn
Main Characters: Bertie, Millie, the heroine, and their fascinating White Prince
Theme: It’s about the spiritual connection between men and the nature- a little boy in his fence of soul, has taken his steps to embrace the union of “us” and “them”- of course, another main character, the white lion, which was then an orphan of “their world”, received the warm welcome from our human life- and also, entered our emotions, love, relationship, witnessed the little smiles of newborns, the tears of wars and the expectations of miracles. Still, it was something like a fantasy- at the end of the story, the little boy was told that Bertie and his wife died a long time ago. But are they DEAD? The truth is that they cannot live like us anymore, but, far away on the other side, we can hear the voice from a peaceful world, where the lion got his wings- and changed into the fascinating blue above the horizon- but it’s not only a fairy-tale, cross our heart, we can caught the vision love and commiseration, the beautiful illusions of the butterfly lion.
Setting: It was a small town in the deep countryside- where a boy escaped from his monotonous school life stood in front of a lion made of stone- like the story happened in The Secret Garden, these clues led him to a world of fantasy. Across the oceans, he could hear the whispering winds from a place far, far away- where he saw the butterfly lion, and looked into its amber-like eyes. But, as he gazing at the blue impressions above the horizon- the boy saw the lion again, as it shimmering in the faint brilliance of life, he understood: that’s life, and, that’s love.
Plot: When the heroine, a young school pupil who played truant from a boarding school in deep Wiltshire caught by a heavy rainfall, he took his steps into a mysterious yard which was surrounded by high walls- Besides him was a dear old lady named Millie- who told the boy everything about the mystery of white lions, the creature that he never heard about.
Coming from the grassland of Africa, Bertie grew up in the fence around his house. From there, he caught his first- and the last impressions of the place where he and the cub were born. After the mother lion’s death, young Bertie adopted her cub and they spent years without troubles inside the fence- but, for Bertie and his beloved little cub, sweet dream soon came back to the realistic- his family sold the lion to Mr. Merlot, who owned a circus in Europe. With sadness, Bertie took a ship to England where he met Millie- he studied in the exact same school as the heroine, and, while playing truant, his fortunate encounter led him to the opportunity to meet again- with his cherished White Prince. Back from the battlefield of the First World War, Bertie and Millie met Merlot by chance- when he saw his babe lion, old and feeble, the three burst into tears together- the tears of happiness.
The lion died years after- but as Bertie could remember, the Horse at Uffington which was hidden in the brilliance of light on the hill of Berkshire, shone the same light as White Prince. The tender kissing of the Adonis Blue would wake him up- the mysterious blue was the spirit of the white lion, and the love between the lion and the man. According to Millie, Bertie made a stone lion on the hill behind the ivy wall- where the clouds stood to rest and they became unity in one.
Recommendation: This was a tale of loneliness, friendship and love- it was more likely to be a sensitive story of living, only with more fun of reading. It was amazing, for the writer, Michael Morpurgo, had only used thousands of words to describe such a beautiful story. All clues lead to one theme- the mythic relationship between we human beings, and the wonders created by our great nature, including the precious white lion. We can imagine, if the lion lived outside the fence until his death, he would never be able to become the fantasy of unity- between the spirits, for we and they. He was roaring to wake up our innocence – and that’s why Bertie could think out the shape of the Uffington horse, which was then a totem of the Celts- it was the connection between us, the spirit of living in battles, the faith of love in the mighty torrent of life, and this is what we have to believe about the stories. Maybe it is a fantasy- it mixed several different stories, and as we know, the death would never come alive- it gives us no less inspiration, to free our heart from the enclosure, and to embrace the exclusive butterfly lion- and to feel the miracle from the Heaven above our dreams. This book gives great descriptions of the kindnesses- not only in humanity, but also, the kindnesses of the all creatures, from boys to girls, from sunrises to sunsets, the sea waves- and the beautiful hopes of the world, for old and young.
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