The Butterfly Lion
Michael Morpurgo
 A young boy runs away from a boarding school in Wiltshire. He meets an old woman (Millie), who tells him the story of Bertie and the butterfly lion. When living in Africa, Bertie rescued a white lion cub, but was forced to part with it when he went to boarding school and the lion was sold to a circus. Bertie promises to find the lion one day. At boarding school, he sneaks away and befriends the young Millie. Later, when fighting in France in the First World War, Bertie is reunited with the lion. He marries Millie and brings the lion back to England, where they live happily for many years. When the lion died, Bertie and Millie carved a lion out of the chalk in the hillside in memorial, before Bertie died himself. After being told the story, Michael returns to school. He finds a plaque commemorating Bertie's heroic acts in the war, and learns from a teacher that Millie died only a few months after Bertie. Michael goes back to the house, finding it deserted. He hears Millie's voice asking him to look after the chalk lion.