When a great storm separates a young lioness from her pride, she runs through the rain and the lightning until she finds shelter in a cave. In the darkness, she meets a wise snake - and the snake begins to tell her a story. Sarpa and Si¿h¿: The Beginning is written for children and for the people who read to them. Its language is simple. Its questions are not. This volume contains two complete stories. The first is a picture book, illustrated on every spread - original black-and-white drawings accompanying each page of the young lioness Si¿h¿ as she finds her way through grief and fear toward courage and home. The second is a short illustrated tale - the door into the longer journey ahead. Together they are the beginning of Si¿h¿: The Becoming - thirteen books that follow the young lioness from lost cub to adulthood, through the oldest stories ever told. Stories of fire and devotion, of courage and sacrifice, of what it means to come home. Each book is a story complete in itself. Together they form a single journey. The name Si¿h¿ comes from Sanskrit, one of the world's oldest languages, and means lion. A note on pronunciation is included for all names. For readers ages 4 and up.