Hello! My name is Leon. I am a happy chameleon. I built a home for myself in some bushes and sticks, close to a sandy beach in Africa. My little house was also shaded from the sun by palm trees and flowers. Branches and leaves were used to cover the doorway of my home. I was like other lizards in many ways. I ate the same food, which I caught , by using my long, sticky tongue like a net to catch a fly. I could look in front of me and behind me at the same time with my special eyes. I could use my tail to curl around a branch of a tree and hang upside down. I even walked like some lizards... by stopping every now and then to rock back and forth.
In one important way though, I was different. I changed colors!!! Sometimes I was brown, blue, red, or green but other times I was purple. This made me very shy. I often thought to myself, “If I go out in the daytime with other lizards, they will see my colors change.” I had a bad outlook on life.
So, during the sunny days when the other lizards would search for food, visit and play together, I would keep to myself under bushes and flowers so that other lizards would not see me and notice my changing colors. While I sat there looking around for insects that would be my dinner, I always kept one eye watching other lizards and learning their names. Often, one of the lizards would ask me to come out of the leaves. I would be stubborn and say, “Not today, thank you.” These lizards were different from me. They never changed colors. I was very lonely.
One day I did something that changed my life and taught me the true meaning of friendship. I climbed timidly out of my shady home. As I moved slowly among the green leaves, I changed from brown to green, blue, red, and even pink.
I soon saw Boris, the bullfrog, sitting on a large brown rock near the stream. I stood rocking back and forth for a moment, trying to get up the courage to face Boris. Taking care to be very quiet, I crawled up onto the rock until I was right behind him. I was a little scared and my green color started changing to the brown color of the rock. I carefully climbed up onto Boris’ shoulder and, as I became braver, my color changed back to green....
This story is free for children to read at the web site www.leonthechameleon.com.
