The Lion and the Mouse 2.0 (What Happens After the Lion Is Free

The lion remained steady as the mouse gnawed through the strong jute net, slowly the lion was able to first move, his feet, then a few of his paws and when he found it easy enough to rise, he shrugged the net off from his body like he always brushed off animal fur after having devoured on all the meat. The puny little creature had indeed proved his worth, guilt nibbled through the lion’s heart as the old visual of his mocking at the mouse played before his eyes. Yes, he was free ..he roared out loud, he roared and he snarled, it managed to terrorize a few birds that were perching upon a few seeds scattered on the ground, the squirrels rushed into their hole and the benefactor mouse stood there drenched in sweat. Cold sweat broke out through the poacher's forehead, he stood there lifeless as if stuck by lightning, he peed in his pants. He was too petrified even to blink an eye, he was too scared to look at the lion in his eye, he tried diverting his mind by looking at the patterns of clouds in the sky. The lion walked up majestically towards the human and gently began whiffing his boots. The man fell with a thud, the lion gently placed his paw on his chest, and there wasn’t any thumping, the beast then sniffed him thoroughly, no air in the nostrils, no rumbling in the belly, no signs of life. He shrugged him away disinterested and roared in frustration. He so much wanted to puncture his veins and watch his blood spurt out.

A little rustle among the leaves caught the lion’s attention, it was the same benefactor mouse “Hey you “ he called out loud.

The mouse appeared trembling before him “Yes my lord “,

“You have taught me an important lesson my friend, even the jackal that has no carcass in it, can be used to warm up my hunting skills, I am sorry for having treated you that way. I seem to not get over this guilt, I offer you a wish, ask me and it shall be yours.”

“Thanks for your generosity your majesty, I shall tell you very soon” The mouse jumped in excitement.

Both the lion and the mouse walked back their way, the lion walked back with his usual commanding gait while the mouse sped through the bushes remaining alert about prey around. The jackal, the leopard, and the wild fox all stepped back as the lion walked through the jungle. These big creatures, his natural enemies stood helpless before the lion, defeated and cursing their destiny. The hummingbirds sang songs in praise of their king as the king walked back. The mouse knew what to ask.

“I wish to be made the king of the jungle your majesty” replied the mouse. The lion gazed at the puny creature straight-faced without any expression, if there was anything he adored more than his prey, it was this huge mass of land. Giving it away would be like giving away a freshly hunted deer full of meat But somewhere in his mind he wished to write off the debt of the mouse from the accounting books of his mind, he was the king of the jungle, and everybody looked up to him for help, advice and protection, he certainly could not have anybody oblige him. What if everybody in the kingdom goes to know about the lion’s lack of integrity?? He would lose all command in the eyes of his people. The creator had entrusted him with the responsibility of the jungle, that’s what he had been told by his parents and by their parents. Would the creator not be annoyed if he went against his wishes, all these thoughts erupted in his mind, but onto the weighing scale of his conscience, the goodness of the mouse somehow weighed higher than all these questions put together.

“I left him in the beginning and he paid me back with the same by cutting through the net, why give away my kingdom for the same?” He questioned himself.

But then he realized it was his sense of guilt that had pushed him to offer a wish to the mouse to feel lighter. He had bought it upon himself and he saw nobody else to blame for it. Giving up the kingdom would anger the creator but not keeping up his vow would be inviting the creator’s wrath.

The next morning the lion called his important people consisting of the tiger, the elephant, the bear and the jackal and announced his decision to renounce his kingdom. The coronation of the new king of the jungle took place the very next day, the lion left his cave that had been his home for years. The mouse was entrusted with the responsibility of the jungle.

The mouse walked through the council of ministers the jackal, the wolves, the tiger, the bear, the fox and the leopard majority consisting of his enemies, while the latter cursed their misfortune.

All the animals in the jungle bowed to their new king in reluctance, the mice saw all the towering animals bow down low before him. Although he was tiny, at that moment he felt tall.

“Your majesty your estate is huge, I suggest you appoint a vehicle for you to travel through your kingdom to be more well informed about its whereabouts, I suggest you take the elephant as your mount to have a clearer view of your kingdom” suggested the tiger.

“The elephant “ the mouse wondered, the big old trumpeting creature had trampled many of his family members, destroyed their homes and merely rendered so many mice unconscious with his noisy trumpeting.

“Serves you right, you big fat oaf,” the mouse thought to himself.

The elephant was now made the official mounting vehicle of the mouse, every time the mouse asked him to stop, the elephant was afraid that he might climb up into his trunk and choke him to death. The elephant faintly toured the mouse through the jungle, and the mouse for the first time in his life enjoyed a rich view of his estate.

The lush green foliage, the beehives hanging from trees, the warmth of the sun, the freshness of the air, everything that seemed unreachable was now just a mile away. The estate extended far and wide up to the forest waterfall, behind the largest banyan tree, that’s what the jackal had told him. He tried catching a site of the same but his eyes didn’t cooperate. The only thought that occupied his mind is that he would have never been able to explore the same with the help of his tiny feet.

The lion on the other hand had started to enjoy his sabbatical, there were no hummingbirds singing songs of his valour, no peacocks dancing for him right before the first downpour of rains, but he was still happy, the reason being irrespective of being a king or not he still was a lion, the animals still trembled with fear at his single roar, and he still could catch his prey with the same swiftness as that of the king of the forest. The only difference that was now evident was that the animals that were his usual prey now faced him with enmity rather than fear.

The mouse daily went out on a round regularly with his royal mount the elephant, keeping track of the estates, his head aching with all the information. The mouse now revised new rules for his kingdom, predators were not supposed to hunt after sunset, the bears and the other rodents will have to submit a share of their honey and nuts daily to the royal treasury, and every meat-eating animal shall be only allowed to hunt only a single animal per day, the mice community would remain immune from any kind of attacks. Elephants are prohibited from trumpeting loudly if anybody doing so, a mouse would have the complete freedom to climb up his trunk and choke him/her to death.

Lastly, the mouse emphasized not obeying the king may lead to inviting the wrath of the creator in the form of forest fires, rains, hailstorms etc.

The lion meanwhile had found love, he had wrestled with a lioness until his back was sabotaged before the bruises on their backs had dried up, and their family had increased to four. It was at the moment when the lion saw his newborns he realized he had nothing to give them.

The kingdom ruled by the rat went in complete ruins, snakes and owls died in starvation while the mice community flourished at double the speed, predators who once commanded the jungle with their might now dwell in fear, self-doubt wrecking their self-esteem. Baboons and monkeys watched the sun immersed in thought and birds found it a real effort to compose songs highlighting the mouse’s greatness.

Thus every day seemed like an era in the reign of the mouse. It was after fall when the meeting was held with the council of ministers, after being nudged by the tiger again and again the jackal bought up the matter before the mouse.

“Your Majesty there is a group of tribal people who have recently occupied a place near the stream, we need to drive them away soon your majesty, or else they may pose a threat to the jungle soon. I saw one of them yesterday sporting the skin of the vixen that lived near the oak tree.”

“Predators are well equipped to protect themselves, they have their claws, their sharp teeth, their death-staring gaze which should suffice. It is weak like the mice and the rodents that need protection.”

“But, your majesty”, before the jackal could argue further he saw the tiger tightly holding onto his tail with his hind paw, he understood the gesture.

“The invasion of humans has proved to be a threat for the jungle, while predators are blessed with muscle strength, besides humans have an ingrained fear of predators being meat eaters which already makes them win half the battle, the ones who need protection are the weak ones, the mice. I order every predator in the kingdom to station themselves at places wherever the mice have built their colonies. Tiger sees to it that the orders are followed.”

The tiger bowed low in obedience, snarling in anger, cursing his misfortune under his breath.

Predators stationed themselves before the mice colonies while cursing and abusing the mouse for his foolishness and lack of foresight, predators once who once held authority were now reduced to mere watch guards. Everybody hated the mice for his partiality towards his community, sadly nobody had the guts to speak in front.

It was only when the quantity of honey and nuts being bought had reduced significantly, the mouse enquired “That’s because birds are being hunted by humans that have set up their huts beside the stream your majesty, informed the tiger.”

The number of predators in the jungle reduced as did the number of tribals near the stream multiplied, some were hunted for meat, some for their clothes while birds just for the sake of entertainment. The mouse now realized that the community that he had been protecting was now less than an inch closer to the brink of risk, he realized he had to do something about this.

It was during the night when upon the instructions of their supreme leader the mice occupied the lake, they devised plans as to how and where to attack the mini village of the humans, they formulated ways, devised strategies and even created a backup plan for the worst case. No squeaking and chirping “ was a strict instruction by their leader.

As the army of mice gently tiptoed towards the huts set up by the humans, a section of the mice first attacked them in their enclosures, they slowly walked towards the human chief and began sniffing his toes, the old chief of the tribe woke up with a large “Hoi” and banged his staff loudly onto the ground. The mice ran away petrified, and they all turned to their chief, the king mouse with his heart banging upon his chest headed towards the human chief's enclosure, he caught sight of his prune-like skin in the light of the orange-yellow flower (fire). The human chief charged his staff towards the king mouse, which landed straight on his head. The king mouse fled for his life.

The number of mice in the army that had arrived to charge an attack on the human race had significantly reduced, as some of them had absconded halfway, and the attack on their supreme leader had set tongues wagging within the community. The king mouse realized he had now slowly begun to lose the support of his people

“Humans like ants tend to save for their worst days to arrive, explained the mouse, we need to destroy all their stock to make it difficult for them to survive as rains are not too far away.” A few loyalist mice readily nodded in agreement, while some of them chose to keep a stoic face.

A few moments later when one of the mice had managed to locate the granary, the king mice along with his people managed to nibble through the reed door. The entire army of mice ravaged the storehouse of the humans, they gnawed halfway through the reserves of fruit, overturned the pots of honey and scattered the grains all over. They stuffed their bellies more than usual and spilt the reserves all over recklessly, they made sure every reservoir and vessel was touched and the contents explored to deprive the humans of the slightest hope. The king mouse supervised the actions of his army with a sense of pride as his people plundered the entire storehouse.

“This is a warning for the humans”. He thought as he smiled to himself.

Much to the king mouse’s expectations the attacks on the jungles increased, he had plundered the granary along with his people to serve as a warning for the humans, but on contrary, the humans began to attack his people with double enthusiasm. Animals now began to decrease at an accelerated rate, trees were cut one after the other as beehives and nests rumbled to the dust. The mouse was unable to ascertain his next step. Left with no choice he gathered a few of his strongest mice among his community and prepared for another attack.

He carefully drafted an entry plan on a palm leaf specifically paying attention to all entry and exit points at the shelter, this time they would plunder the granary and also defecate at various specific points to facilitate the spread of diseases.

The mice army carefully tiptoed towards the human enclosure, they made their way towards the granary slowly, as soon as they stepped into the cool dark place, some of the mice started having difficulty in breathing, their eyes began to shed water, and their bodies began to get cold, a moment later some of them fell onto the ground unconscious.

The king mouse too had started to feel dizzy, his tongue started to feel bitter, he felt something churn in his stomach, his eyes started to get watery and the sight of his people fainting before he began to get hazy. He took a deep whiff of the air and burst out coughing profusely; he realized the air contained a decoction of camphor and mint. He traced the smell and realized the smell was being emitted from an earthen bowl. The bowl contained a smoked heterogeneous mixture of mint, amryliss, elderberry and rosemary all that was poisonous to mice. The mouse dragged himself out of the enclosure, he stumbled upon the dead bodies of his people as he tried to stagger away from the human shelter.

He pushed his legs to carry him, he moved and moved and continued moving until he slowly started to lose the smell of the intolerants. He was now drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, he lay there on the ground, breathing heavily through his mouth, until his eyes began to feel heavy.

The sight of his people swaying consumed in poison woke up the mice with a startle, he realized it was just the visual from the previous night that was being played in his mind. The sun was up in the sky, dehydrated he walked up to the stream to refresh himself.

He had just dipped his paws into the water when he noticed the reflection of a cat-like structure in the ripples of the water at a distance, the mouse’s eyes followed the reflection and caught sight of a lioness gently licking the water with her large pink tongue. A moment later a similar cat-like structure with a thick mane appeared behind, he gently began to nuzzle the lioness, as the two began to splash water onto one another. The mouse started at the couple for a long time, he realized this was the same lion who had given away his kingdom to keep up his word. The mouse continued watching as the lion, the lioness and the three little cubs bathed in the water of the stream. The kids continued playing wrestling as their parents watched them in delight, the mouse realized that not being the king anymore had very little to do with the lion's happiness.

The mouse followed the lion family stealthily to their cave, the lioness had managed to hunt a deer for her children, and the parents pushed the meaty portions towards the children and watched them eat their full.

The mouse was in a trance a state as he watched the lion and his family redefine happiness, although he was the king of the forest, he felt he had nothing of his own. The meditation of the mouse was disturbed by the intrusion of a human hoot.

The mouse quickly grasped the cat-like padded walk of the human that was stalking the lion family, the human took out his spear slowly and charged towards the cubs. The lion alerted at once and stood up in response, he stood straight-faced watching the human in his eye, he roared out loud, and the human in sight began to bite his lips. He picked up his spear and slowly walked towards the lion, the former king of the forest, charged towards his hand and the human dropped his weapon in fright. The lion placed his paws on the human’s chest and roared out loud. He then made use of his nails and teeth and punctured his throat, and blood began to flow out from the human body. The lion then charged towards his belly and pulled out a chunk of meat, the human was now trying his level best to wriggle his way out of the beast's clutches. The lion bit him in the leg and pulled him around his bleeding body in a circular fashion simultaneously urinating, marking his territory.

The human now was dead, the lion and the lioness ate their fill and dragged the lifeless body up to the stream, they playfully tossed the meatless, lifeless body into the stream ensuring that the corpse retained the bear skin loin cloth that the human was wearing. The body would float and eventually reach the residing place of the humans, the lion's message to the tribe was loud and clear.

The mouse watched the entire act bewildered, the next day he handed the responsibilities of the kingdom back to the lion.