One morning, Malika the python was hanging in a cluster of vines waiting for her prey to go by. She was hoping that a wild boar would go by. But instead, she saw a leopard, that looked about her age, coming toward her.
“Oh,” whispered the leopard to herself. “It’s probably just my imagination.” But Malika could tell that the leopard could tell that she wasn’t alone.
So as soon as the leopard got an inch away from her, Malika dropped down in a coil and hissed, “Hello, I’m Malika.”
“Umm,” stammered the leopard. “Aren’t you going to eat me?”
“Why would I?” Malika hissed.
“Umm, because you’re a python? And pythons eat things like me?”
“Oh, no!” said Malika. “No, that’s just stories. We don’t actually eat you.”
“Oh,” said the leopard, “Um, thank you.” She looked relieved.
“You’re welcome,” hissed Malika cheerfully. “Do you want to come see my house?”
“Sure,” said the leopard. “By the way, my name’s Fern.”
“Cool name,” hissed Malika. “Come, it’s this way…” She slithered off in the direction of her home, which was in the ruins of a golden temple.
“This is your house?” gasped Fern when she saw the ruins.
“Yep,” Malika hissed. “Just watch out for the giant spiders!”
Fern gulped. “Giant spiders?”
“Yeah,” Malika hissed. “They live here too. And unfortunately the stories about them are actually true.”
“So…” said Fern. “Are you sure it’s safe to go in here? I mean, if the stories are true and there actually are giant spiders and the stories actually say that they paralyze you and eat you whole, then I don’t think it’s pretty safe to go in here.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Malika hissed. “I’ll keep you safe. They are our enemies…”
“Oh,” said Fern. “That’s relieving. But how will you keep me safe? Won’t they just paralyze you?”
“Nope,” said Malika. “The paralyzing venom doesn’t work on me. Also if it did work on me, I’m too fast for them to catch.”
“Oh!” said Fern. “Um, is that one right now?” she pointed a shaky paw at the doorway of the temple.
There, perched right above the doorway, was a massive spider with huge fangs, eight red eyes, and silk spinning out of it.
“Yep, that’s one for sure,” hissed Malika. “Stand back, I’ll get it!”
She slowly circled around so that she was right behind the spider. Then she gracefully stretched up so she could reach onto a vine and pulled herself up – slowly, carefully and quietly. She slithered along the vine until she was right above the spider. Then, suddenly, she dropped onto the spider, wrapped herself around, and squeezed!
The spider choked for a second and then fell down, dead.
“That was amazing Malika,” Fern cried. She raced over and hugged Malika super tight.
“Hah, thanks. Anyways, it’s time for you to meet my family. Come.” Malika slithered into the doorway with Fern following close on her tail.
“Wow, it’s even more amazing here than outside.” Purred Fern.
“Just wait till we get to the grand hall,” hissed Malika, delighted. “Here, it’s this way…”
Fern followed Malika through an archway into the treasure room. Malika’s family wasn’t sure how all of the things had gotten there, but this room was full of incredibly awesome human creations encrusted with jewels and precious metals. Her parents were always very proud to show this room to visitors.
Fern stood there in awe for a minute, absorbing the beauty with her eyes. Malika could see the cracks in the walls, but she had painted over with the same golden paint that the temple was painted with, so you could only see them if you looked closely. She wondered if Fern even noticed those cracks. It was Malika’s favorite chore to use that golden paint.
“This is probably the most beautiful place in the world,” Fern gasped to Malika. “How come no one’s ever seen it before? I mean there have been rumors about a lost golden temple of treasure, but I didn’t think those stories were actually true! No one’s ever seen it before!”
“Well,” hissed Malika, “sometimes they do discover it, and when they try to run off, the spiders eat them. Not our fault, though.” Malika felt a little bit guilty about the other leopards that had tried to explore the temple. She had become friends with some of those leopards. She wondered if they had escaped the giant spiders or if some of the bones that her family had come across were from them.
“Oh,” said Fern. “That’s… creepy.”
“Stand back,” said Malika. “There’s another spider up ahead.”
Fern ducked behind a golden statue so that her fur blended in (since her fur was yellow).
Malika did the same thing she had done at the doorway. She strangled that spider after surprising it. “All right, Fern!” Malika called. “You can come out now!”
Fern came out and followed Malika to the next hall. But before they could get through the archway, Malika’s mom blocked their path.
“Malika,” she hissed. “Who have you brought home today?”
“Oh,” said Malika. “Hi, mom. This is my friend, Fern.”
“Nice to meet you,” Malika’s mom hissed to Fern. “Malika, you should have been here an hour ago, it’s lunchtime.”
“Oh,” said Malika. “Sorry. Come on Fern, join us for lunch.”
“Okay,” said Fern. She followed Malika’s mom into the room Malika’s mom had been guarding. Inside, the table was still empty.
“Come on, Fern,” said Malika. “We have a special guest chair for visitors. Here, you can sit next to me!”
She showed Fern to a fancy chair and seated herself next to Fern.
Just then, Malika’s dad, brother and sister slithered over to them.
“That’s Greenla and Marco.” Malika pointed to the two other pythons. She pointed to the bigger one, “That’s my dad, Boris.” She pointed to her mom. “And that’s Hemma.”
“Oh,” said Fern.
“Hello,” hissed Greenla. “Are you joining us for lunch?”
“Yup,” purred Fern.
“Great!” hissed Greenla. “You’ll love the food here. I’ll bet you’ve never tried it before.”
“It must be delicious,” meowed Fern.
“I’ll go get the food,” hissed Boris.
He slithered out of the room and came back a few minutes later carrying a trayful of fruit and meat and whatever was edible.
“That looks delicious!” cried Fern.
Next, Marco got up and went to the kitchen and got some silver plates that looked like they had real flowers on them, even though it was actually paint.
Then Greenla got up and got the silverware and then Malika got up and got some teacups and a tea kettle. Then Hemma got up and got some napkins.
They all returned to their seats and started feeding their plates with food.
Fern did the same and tried each food, one by one, until it looked like she decided which she liked most. Then she ate more food, had some tea, and started shifting around in her seat.
“Um,” said Fern. “I better go back home. My mom is worried at all times and she must be anxious! Malika and everyone, you can come visit my house anytime you want! My house is a wooden castle and it’s in the center of the rainforest. Bye!”
“Bye,” everyone waved to her.
“Here Fern,” Malika offered. “I can lead you outside the temple so you don’t get caught by any giant spiders.”
“Sure,” said Fern. “Thanks again, everyone!”
Malika led her through the archway and warned Fern when there was a giant spider up ahead.
They got out quickly and Malika went out the archway first to make sure there was no spider up above the archway. There wasn’t so they got through quickly.
“Bye,” said Fern, hugging Malika. “Hope to see you soon!”
Malika waved goodbye as Fern walked away toward her house. She thought “I’m going to have a play date with Fern soon.” In the meantime, Malika went back into the temple. She chose a sunny window seat to read a book.
The next morning Malika headed over to Fern’s house. It was a nice and cozy little wooden castle. Mama Leopard answered the door when Malika knocked.
“Hello” hissed Malika, “are you Fern’s mom? I’m Malika, I met Fern yesterday in the jungle. I’m wondering if I can have a play date with her?”
Mama leopard purred “Yes I’m Mama Leopard, Fern’s mom. Of course you can have a play date with her. Let me go tell her that you are here.” She hurried off into the castle.
Malika slithered back and forth by the entrance to the castle as she waited. She could hear the conversation going on through an open window.
“It’s Malika!” Mama Leopard was saying to Fern. “She wants to have a playdate with you!”