“Jack! Mary! Do you want to go hunting with me?” shouted Father in his loud, booming voice.
“Sure!” replied Jack and Mary as they unhooked their coats and hurried into the woods with their father.
“Daddy, look! There is a magnificent-looking stag!” cried out Jack and Mary. The stag heard their footsteps and took to its heels. The chase was on with Jack leading the way. Up the hill they went, with nobody giving up. Just as Jack was reaching the top, he made an abrupt stop. Out in the sea, he saw a beautiful deserted island.
“I must go there and have a look,” he decided.
“Hey! Why did you let the stag go?” shouted Mary and Father as they chased up with Jack.
“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and let it slipped,” said Jack in a soft voice.
“Never mind, let’s go home now. It is getting late,” replied Father.It was 1a.m., but Jack and Mary were still wide awake, thinking of what to bring on the journey. He had told Mary about the mysterious island and his plan. Mary wanted to go with him and he agreed. They decided to bring some food, water, two torch lights, some batteries and a pocket knife. Then, they left a note to their parents and sneaked out of room. They stole a boat from the beach and set forth their journey.

The sea was very calm and peaceful as Jack and Mary rowed slowly. Suddenly, they spotted something lurking in the still waters and could not make out what it was. Just then, the waves started to crash onto the boat and it was rocking from side to side. Suddenly, a creature with a lion head and a fish body rose from the depths of the waters and asked them in a low voice, “Why are you intruding the Land of Lion?”“Sorr...Sorry, we just want to explore the island out of curiosity. Are you the guardian of it?” asked Jack in a scared voice.

“Yes, I am. I can let you go to the island, but you must help to kill the horrible lion that is destructing the island. Agree?” Boomed the creature’s voice as it stared down at Jack and Mary.
“Okay, we agree.” replied Jack.
“You may go now...” said the creature as it dived back into the cold, dark waters.Jack and Mary were relieved as they crashed into the pure, white beach of the island. They stood exhaustively while admiring the beautiful scenery. Suddenly, a loud, booming roar shook the whole island from a distance.

“Oh, no! It must be the lion! How are we going to defeat it?” cried Jack.
“Let’s set a trap on the beach and lure it over to let it fall into it,” clever Mary suggested.
“Okay! Let’s do it then!” Jack agreed.
Promptly, Jack and Mary started to dig a deep hole on the beach.  Then they cut down tree branches and sharpened them using the pocket knife. They laid the sharpened branches in the deep hole, pointing upwards.  Lastly, they used coconut tree leaves to cover up the hole, with sand covering over them.  When they finally completed the trap, they were totally exhausted.
Suddenly, a huge lion emerged from the bushes and roared. It lunged at Jack and Mary instantly.  They quickly ran towards the sea. Just as the lion was approaching them closer, it fell into the trap and roared painfully!
“We have succeeded!” cried out Jack and Mary with great joy! 
Just then, the creature popped its head out of the water and said “Well done, children! You have kept your promise with courage and intelligence.  A great nation shall be born from you and your generations will be blessed with peace and prosperity,” said the creature before it disappeared into the seawater.  Jack and Mary were overjoyed.
“Hey, why don’t we invite more people to come and live here, since it is such a beautiful island?” Mary suggested. Jack agreed happily.  Since then, they lived in the Land of Lion happily ever after with their family and friends.Many years over, the Land of Lion had become a great nation. It had been named as Singapura, which means “Lion City” in Malay. To commemorate the guardian of Singapura, people built a statue of it and named it as “Merlion”. This is how Singapore became a nation and how Merlion symbolises our nation.