Lost and found read by Sir Ian McKellen

Lost and found is one of six stories created by patients, families and staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital, with the help of writer Sarah Butler. The audio version is narrated by Sir Ian McKellen.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, an eagle was captured by humans and kept tied to a post with a ring around her leg. Fortunately, she was a brave and clever eagle, and she managed to escape. She kept the ring to remind herself and her family how lucky they were to be free. The ring and its story were passed down from generation to generation.

Many years later, the ring belonged to a tall, thin eagle called Escabar, who lived in a big nest, surrounded by sharp black rocks, on the very top of the tallest mountain in the land. One day, Escabar was out finding food for his two children. The baby eaglets, Flash and Cloud, decided to have a jumping competition. They jumped about so much that the nest and everything in it shook and trembled on the top of the mountain. Flash flapped his wings, and as he did so he dislodged the precious ring, up it went, out of the nest, and the eaglets watched in dismay as it fell down, down, down.

The ring fell down through the mountains, right past the cave of a bear called Bronson. Bronson loved collecting things that shone and sparkled. He saw the ring fall. What a beautiful thing, he thought, and reached out his paw to catch it, but he was too slow.

Far below, curled up in the branches of a tall tree, a young koala called Katy was fast asleep. Donk! The ring hit Katy on the head and woke her up. What a beautiful thing, she thought, looking at the ring, but she was very sleepy, and so she placed it carefully on the branch next to her and fell straight back to sleep. She dreamt about racing and jumping and dancing and skipping, and as she slept she wriggled and she jiggled and she shook the branch so hard that the ring slipped off and fell down, down, down.

Far below, a beautiful flamingo, called Fiona, was peering into the mirror-like lake and putting on her make-up – pink eye shadow, pink blusher, pink mascara. Plop! Something shiny and silver dropped into the lake and the flamingo’s reflection disappeared into the ripples. What’s that? wondered Fiona. She dipped her long, elegant neck down into the water, and fished out a sparkling silver ring. What a beautiful thing, she thought, but she hadn’t finished her make-up, and so she carefully placed the ring by the edge of the lake and waited for the water to settle so she could see her reflection again.

Now, all this time, Bronson had been thinking about the ring, and what a beautiful thing it was, and how much he would like to add it to his collection. He had set off from his cave to search for it, and when he reached the mirror-like lake, there it was, lying on the grass. It is a beautiful thing, he thought, and before Fiona the flamingo realised what was happening, Bronson had picked up the ring and run off to his cave in the mountains.

Weeks and weeks later, the snow on the hillside started to melt. There was so much cold icy water that it flooded Bronson’s cave and washed the ring down the hill and out into the sea.

In the sea lived a wise old walrus, called West. One day he was searching for his favourite squiggly red fish who lived at the bottom of the sea. He swam down, down, down, and as he did, his tusk slipped through the centre of a silver ring. He shook his head from side to side, but the ring wouldn’t move. He nodded his head up and down, but the ring wouldn’t come off. This is a strange and beautiful thing, the walrus thought, but I have no use for it.

All this time, Escabar the eagle, Katy the koala, Fiona the flamingo, and Bronson the bear, were all looking for the beautiful silver ring. And when West the walrus heaved himself out of the water, there they all were, standing on the ice, looking at him.

'That’s my ring!' said the bear.

'That’s my ring!' said the flamingo.

'That’s my ring!' said the koala.

'That’s my ring!' said the eagle.

'Mmmmm,' said the walrus, and wished that he could scratch his head. 'There are four of you and only one ring.'

And so each of the animals told West why the ring belonged to them.

'The water washed it away from me,' said Bronson. 'It was the most beautiful thing in my collection.'

'I put it down just for a minute,' said the Fiona, 'and when I looked up it was gone. I saw paw prints in the mud.' She glared at Bronson who looked down at his feet and blushed.

'It was a gift from the sky,' said Katy, 'But it fell off the branch when I was sleeping. I think I heard a splash,' she said and glared at Fiona, who blushed, although she was so pink already no-one could tell.

'Mmmm,' said West. 'I think I can see what has happened.' He turned to Escabar.

'This ring has been in my family for generations and generations,' said the eagle. 'It belonged to my great-great-great-great-grandmother, who escaped from captivity. It has been in my family ever since, as a reminder of how lucky we are to be free.'

The walrus looked at the bear and the flamingo and the koala and they all looked at their feet and felt a little bit sheepish.

'We all agree, then?' said the walrus, and Bronson, Fiona and Katy nodded their heads.

'There is a problem, though,' said West. 'The ring is stuck on my tusk and I can’t get it off.'

Bronson was a big, strong bear. '’ll do it,' he said. He pulled and he heaved and he yanked and he tugged, but he couldn’t move the ring.

The walrus turned to Katy, but she had fallen asleep and was snoring gently.

'I have an idea,' said Fiona, and she chose her longest most beautiful feather and tickled West just under his nose.

'Ah - ah- ah- ah- ah - atishooooooo,' sneezed the walrus, and the ring shot off his tusk onto the ground, and they all cheered so loudly that Katy woke up.

The bear and the flamingo and the koala still felt a bit guilty about trying to take the ring that was so important to the eagle. 'Please let us help you take it back up to your nest,' they said to Escabar. 'And we promise we won’t take things that don’t belong to us ever again.'

So Fiona flew all the way along the river to the wide glassy lake by the deep dark forest. She gave the ring to Katy, who scrambled all the way up to the top of the very tallest tree. Katy handed the ring to Bronson, who ran up and across the high, rocky mountains. He delivered the ring to Escabar, who flew all the way back to his big nest, surrounded by sharp black rocks, on the very top of the tallest mountain in the land, where Flash and Cloud were waiting.