The Bell Ringer

Issue date: 10/27/09 Section: Arts & Life

In The Wizard of Oz, readers are introduced to Dorothy, who travels down the yellow brick road to get to the city of Oz. Joining her on this journey is the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. In the book "A Lion Among Men" readers get a look into the life of Brrr, or the Cowardly Lion as he later became known, how he became known as the Cowardly Lion and how he overcame that title.

The book starts off with Yackle, an odd woman that readers are introduced to in "Wicked," being buried because she is about to die. A year later, a women goes down to the crypt where they buried her to get something, and Yackle sits up and starts talking to her. After it is realized that Yackle isn't going to die anytime soon, she is set up in a room where she was out of the way. A few days later the Lion comes to the Cloisters of St. Glinda to talk to Yackle. He is there for the government, on official business, to find out about Elphaba and Liir.

While Brrr is interviewing Yackle, she tells him that she won't tell him anything unless he tells her about his life. After a little bit of refusing to say anything, Brrr finally gives in and starts talking about his life. When he begins his story, readers find out that he was an orphan from the moment he was a baby and he has no idea who his parents are.

The next big event Brrr talks about is when he encounters some humans hunting in the woods and one of them gets his leg stuck in a trap. Brrr starts talking to the man and the man begs him to either eat him or go get his friends to let him help. Brrr is so excited that he has somebody to talk to that he just sits there talking to him and unfortunately the man ends up dying. After his "friend" died, Brrr decides that he is going to go to the city where the father of the dead man lives and visit him and tell him what his son said.

While Brrr is traveling he meets several different characters, including another lion pride. When he meets the lions, Brrr is excited because he realizes that he might have found either his original family or another family that he could live with. Things, unfortunately, don't work out with that lion pride and Brrr is forced to leave them.

Throughout the story, readers not only find out about Brrr's life, they also find out what happened to Nor, who was introduced in "Wicked," and find out not only where she has been this entire time, but what she has been doing with her life since she escaped from prison.

To find out the rest of Brrr's life, whether he manages to accomplish his task for the government and how he meets Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tinman, and what happened to Nor, read the book.

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