The Lion's Balloon Journey

The sun was shining, and Leo the lion was taking a morning walk in the forest. He sniffed the flowers and chased butterflies. Suddenly, he saw something big and colorful floating in the air! It was a hot air balloon, like a giant rainbow bubble!

Leo was very curious. He tiptoed over and peeked into the basket hanging below the balloon. “Hmm,” he thought, “maybe there are yummy berries in here?” He hopped into the basket to look around.

Whoosh! The rope holding the balloon to the ground came undone, and up, up, up went Leo! He was so busy looking for berries that he didn’t even notice he was floating. When he finally looked up, he gasped! The trees looked like tiny green dots, and the ground was far, far away!

“Oh my!” Leo said, his big eyes wide. He held onto the basket tightly. “I hope this bouncy bubble goes down soon!”

The balloon floated over hills and rivers, and then, finally, it started to go down, down, down. It landed gently in a sandy place that was all yellow and hot—the desert!

“Phew!” Leo said, jumping out of the basket. He was a little bit scared, but mostly just surprised. He didn’t want to ride in a bouncy bubble again anytime soon! He turned and ran as fast as his paws could carry him, back towards the green forest he loved.

He ran and ran until he saw his cozy cave. He went inside, plopped down on his soft moss bed, and sighed. “What an adventure!” he said. “But I think I’ll stick to walking on the ground from now on.” And with that, Leo the lion took a long, sleepy nap, dreaming of butterflies and berries, and definitely not of bouncy bubbles.