Chronicles of the Pride Lands cotpl-1

by John H. Burkitt

  SCENE: THE LIGHT IN HER EYES

  “Then Herod told them ‘Go to Bethlehem and search for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I may go and worship him as well.”

  -- MATTHEW 2, VERSES 7-8

  As weeks passed, Sarabi began to show evidence of the life inside her. The other lionesses would coddle her and hang on her, suggesting male and female names. Among the most favored choices was “Shanni” for a female and “Simba” for a male. Simba was Ajenti’s idea, and it was an instant favorite. Never once did Taka wonder if it would be a male. He felt it was his destiny to fight an uphill battle until he gasped out his last breath. It would be male just to spite him.

  Seeing the “light in her eyes” made him ill. It was the mark of Muffy’s passion—his brother’s final insult. He would look away when she passed to avoid seeing her in that condition. Once he sought to drown his sorrows in a night of loveless passion, but he was soundly rejected, even when he offered to take the vow. Once he was caught staring at Isha who was known to sun herself on the rocks in the most liquid poses of feminine beauty. His jaw trembled and his tail lashed from side to side as he dared to make love to her with his eyes. Yolanda, who was suspicious of Taka anyhow, caught him and threatened to go tell Isha. “She would break your lustful little carcass into tiny pieces.”

  “She will understand. You’ve been jealous since we broke up.”

  “What??”

  “Night before last when you excused yourself from the hunt.”

  “I was sick! ”

  “You were love sick. Oh baby, the things you did weren’t in the talk my father gave me. Which one did you like best--naughty bunnies or the wildebeest’s revenge?”

  Her eyes grew wide. “You dirty little liar! ”

  “No worse than a dirty little snitch. Just try me and see if I won’t.”

  The Isha incident was never referred to again. Indeed, Taka was wont to behave himself in public. And with Sarabi’s child coming closer to the sunlight every day, he stepped up his nocturnal dealings with the hyenas and took a whole new interest in the royal family.

  Everyone experienced mixed joy and sadness when the big day came. The male cub was named Simba and his small sister was named Shanni. Shanni was weak and tiny, and she never even tasted her mother’s milk before she went to join the gods. Simba was strong and handsome, and he had enough strength for two cubs. His large paws and well formed features were admired by the relatives and close friends that caught first sight of him.

  Taka came in his turn to look at the child. “He looks so much like his father, ” he said. Something Mufasa mistakenly took as a compliment. “You will live an interesting life.”

  Though he had no doubt all along the cub would be male and an heir to the throne, seeing Simba with his own eyes was the final cement on his resolve. The cub was innocent, unaware of the resentment in his Uncle’s heart. And he was expendable.

  Oddly enough, it was on this day that Taka first noticed how much Elanna was like her sister Sarabi. Only Elanna did not avoid him. In fact, she would speak to him without even being spoken to. She came to him smiling and asked, “Isn’t he a dream? I just know you’re going to spoil your little nephew.”

  “Of course.” He looked in her eyes and half smiled. “But it’s a shame he didn’t have his mother’s eyes. Shaka’s daughters all had beautiful eyes.”

  She smiled shyly. “Well Ahadi’s sons aren’t so bad looking either.”

  “Hmph! ” He straightened a little and began to groom his mane. When she left, he watched her till she disappeared in the tall grass.

  Ahadi’s name brought back a stinging pain that finally overtook his good mood. And a little shame began to creep into the darkness of his heart as the wondered what Ahadi and Akase would think of his plans. Simba was the grandson they did not live to see. No doubt they would have loved him. For a moment, but only for a moment, he reflected on the small cub gilded with the glory of sunrise who wanted to divide the kingdom with his brother. “No, Muffy, ” Taka said under his breath. “Dad was right. There can only be one King in this land.” The mood brought mist to his eyes. “Father, if only you had chosen me. Damn Rafiki! Damn the nurse that gave him milk! Someday I will kill him, but not all at once. I’ll destroy him a little bit at a time the way he destroyed me.”

  The words of hate hardened his heart. He drew away to the lair of the hyenas to bring news of Simba’s birth and to plan his death.

  SCENE: ONE DAY TOO LONG

  “Mufasa's death was a terrible tragedy; but to lose Simba who had barely begun to live.... For me, it is a deep, personal loss. And so it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne. Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future.”

  -- TAKA’S ELEGY

  Over the next three months, Simba grew from a small mite that slept most of the day to a joyful, exuberant toddler. He had his moments that could try the patience of a tree, but his heart was good, and his charm didn’t invite love—it practically demanded it. Nala also fell under his spell, following him everywhere like a puppy.

  Then suddenly, as a tree is struck by lightning, Scar came wild-eyed with horrible news of a stampede in the gorge. Simba was in trouble.

  Trouble indeed! Taka nearly wretched as he described the small battered body that lay in the dust. Those eyes so full of innocence and love for all Aiheu’s creation staring lifeless at the sky with the final look of horror fixed in them forever! Taka spoke all the earmarks of genuine grief—no one suspected him of harboring ill will toward the golden child of his brother. Often Simba was seen sleeping under the protection of his Uncle’s watchful gaze. It was at those moments that even the most skeptical lionesses looked at Taka with some tolerance.

  Nala huddled by Sarafina, sobbing. Sarabi tried to think one minute ahead, even one second, but she could see no future, even her next meal. She contemplated curling up and sleeping, never to wake up again. Yet things were not so simple in real life as they are in wishful thinking.

  Rafiki came running up Pride Rock. He saw the hyenas and did not know what to make of it. Going into the cave, he says, “Mufasa, I heard the cry. Who is dead? Old Maloki?”

  “No. Not old Maloki.”

  “Taka?” Rafiki looks around. “Where is your brother?”

  “My brother is dead. So is Simba. There was a stampede in the gorge.”

  “Oh my gods! ” The shock made him weak in the knees. “Aiheu, I have lived one day too long! ” The old mandrill could barely stumble out of the cave. He saw Sarabi, her head hung low and her ears fallen flat. “Sassie, is it true? Tell me it isn’t true! ”

  She turned to look at him, her jaw trembling. “Rafiki, how good of you to come.”

  He fell to his knees, put his arms around her neck and wept on her shoulder. “My precious little girl. Oh, my heart breaks—it breaks, yet I do not die! ”

  Sarabi turned and touched his cheek with her tongue. “You are an ape, and yet you are also a lion. You must say prayers for me, old friend. My heart lies in the gorge, yet the sun goes on rising and setting. I wish I had been there to greet Aiheu with them.”

  “You are needed here, so you remain. I do not understand, I only acknowledge.”

  “Pray for me.”

  “Indeed I will, Sassie.” He kissed her. “Morning and evening, and night.” He placed his hand on her brow. “Oh gods, let your hearts be moved. Take pity on her in her time of loss. Open your arms of love and feed her with the blood of mercy....”

  “Rafiki, ” said a hyena. “The King wants a word with you—right now.”

  The mandrill looked up in shock. He tried to pull himself together. “Did you say the King?” He took up his staff and tried to stand as straight as he could, but it was a little harder just then. He was escorted into what was now Scar’s cave and faced Taka and his guards.

  “It is a sad duty I ask you to perform
, ” Taka said. “You once said my road would be long and hard. Now I am King, but I cannot enjoy it. It is an obligation I must fulfill, and I seek divine guidance to carry out the job wisely and well. Give me your blessing.”

  Rafiki stood closer to Taka. He did not know, of course, that his brother’s blood was on his paws. But when he looked into Taka’s eyes, he saw no sadness. He saw only the glint of triumph there, and it made him feel ill. “This blessing I bestow. May the gods in the heavens give you what you richly deserve. May you find as much inner peace as you are entitled to. May you receive mercy in the measure you bestow it, no less and no more.”

  “I’ll choose to take that as a compliment, ” Taka said, patting Rafiki’s cheek gently, then giving him a blow that sent him into the wall. “You twisted little ape. It was your words that brought us to this. I hate you. Your painted face sickens me.” Taka nodded, and the two hyena guards stood on either side of Rafiki. “You are corban. For the rest of your life you will remain within two hundred strides of your tree except with an escort of hyenas to take you to the watering hole, and only when I am not there. For the next time we meet, you will surely die. Krull, take charge.”

  Taka shoved the staff back at Rafiki. Then the mandrill took his staff and picked himself up. As he left Pride Rock for what seemed to be the last time, he cast a longing glance at Sarabi. “Perhaps you will say a prayer for me too?”

  The lionesses watched his exit. It was the final injury on top of all griefs. Only Elanna who could see no evil in Taka thought there must be a good reason for his confinement. She went into his cave humbling herself, laying on her back and reaching out. “I touch your mane.”

  “I feel it. Rise up, my dear.”

  “Your heart is dear to me, even when it is broken.”

  “And you have come to comfort me?” Taka was genuinely moved. He saw in her trusting eyes the love that once Sarabi had born for her. Risking all, he reached out and touched her shoulder. She purred deeply. “Tonight my brother lies dead by his son. The day we first make love must be a happy memory. Return in three days, and I will pledge myself to you.”

  “Incosi aka Incosi, ” she said. “Great King.” Then she mouthed the word, “Beloved.”

  Coming from a lioness, the phrase was liquid light, a thing of beauty. The hyenas that surrounded him were too full of flattery and manners. All fear and ambition, no real substance. Even those who were genuinely grateful could only excite the smallest fleeting pleasure. Only one hyena did he actually love, though he did love her enough to tolerate the rest.

  ELANNA: Why can’t they see the one I see when others look at him?

  His inner light is shining bright; why do they find it dim?

  TAKA: I’ve seen that face through all my days, but now I see it new,

  And all my dreams of hope and love begin to look like you.

  CHOIR: There’s a renaissance of love here, a respite from an age of fearful darkness

  Calling to the hopeless to enter the light.

  There’s a wakening of spirits, a call to overcome the bonds of sadness

  Shining with a fervor ecstatic and bright.

  TAKA: Far over the hills coming in warm crimson splendor

  The sun is preparing now to rise for us, to comfort us

  And shine on our newborn love!

  CHOIR: There’s a renaissance of hope here, a respite from an age of hopelessness

  Wiping clean the bitterness borne of our tears.

  There’s a wakening of spirits, a freedom from the bonds of loneliness

  To comfort us and soothe away all of our fears.

  ELANNA: Come let the sun rise up with its gold joyful splendor

  And light the golden face of my beloved one, to warm our hearts

  And shine on our newborn love!

  Back in his baobab tree, Rafiki was thrust none too gently and warned by the overly enthusiastic guards that his life hung in the balance. He was too sad to be frightened of death, but he clung to life from some impulse Aiheu had breathed into his forefathers.

  Rafiki looked at the picture of Simba. “Poor child. Innocent and now dead because of me.” Sadly, he took his hand and wiped over the painting, smearing the mark of his anointing. “Somehow, some way, I will undo this evil. I swear I will never stop trying till death takes me.”

  SCENE: GOOD HELP IS HARD TO FIND

  "In the third year of King Ramalah, there was a certain lioness named Alba the faithful. She was a servant of Queen Chakula from the time of her coming of age, and often times the Queen entrusted her with her two sons N'ga and Sufa. Once, when Chakula was aprowl, the earth shook, and the cave where Alba dwelled was closed with the twins inside. Five days it took to dig them out, and Chakula had no hope to find them alive. But when the cave was opened, N'ga and Sufa came out alive. Only Alba was dead. Because she was a dry lioness, she opened the deep veins of her arm to nurse them, that they might survive. It was from the spot she lay that the first flower grew that bears her name, red as the blood of mercy."

  -- THE LEONID SAGA, “E” SECTION, VARIATION 5

  Rafiki sulked in his confinement. His home that had always seemed so large was now cramped--almost claustrophobic. He could still heal wounds and fevers under the close supervision of his guards. Casual visitors were rudely turned away.

  It wasn’t long before the Pride Lands fell under an epidemic of sprains, bruises and coughs. The guards suspected that most were well-wishers, but they had no way to prove which ones were. His dwindling supplies of herbs would soon solve that problem anyhow, as he was not allowed to gather things beyond the boundaries of his restriction.

  Rafiki despaired. Unless Aiheu sent him a way, he could quickly find himself without healing powers, a useless relic left over from happier days. He took some of his precious remaining ochre and painted an eye of Aiheu on the wall of his hollow tree. “Watch over me, Lord. I know in your good time there will be an answer to my problems.”

  He had just finished his prayer when something happened to change his whole outlook. Krull, the leader of his hyena guard, came in complaining of a runny eye. “If you are good as your friends say you are, it won’t matter that I am a hyena.”

  “I don’t know about good, ” Rafiki said. “But it does not matter what you are, as long as you feel suffering.”

  “Why does Scar hate you so?”

  “Hasn’t he told you?”

  “Let’s say for now that he has not. What would you tell me?”

  “I would tell you that I am partly to blame. I had toyed with powers I did not fully understand, and given a foothold to the curse that burns him.”

  “Hfff! Honest little chap, aren’t you! And yet a half truth is like a half-carcass--it can be dragged twice as far. Tell me about this curse--help me to understand it.”

  “The words alone are corban. If they are spoken aloud, they would rot your bones, but I may whisper it to you.”

  Coming from the back, Rafiki leaned over and drew close to his ear. “What I do, ” he whispered, “is what I have to do.” Quickly Rafiki grabbed Krull’s forearm and pinched one of the nerves. With his other hand, he grabbed his muzzle to stifle a shriek of pain. The hyena struggled and whined, but Rafiki’s hold was secure. The jaws that closed so powerfully had weak muscles to open them, and Krull was not able to make more than a stifled moan. “Listen to me and listen well. When I release your jaw, the first words I want to hear are ‘I swear by my god that I will be your loyal servant.’ Agreed?”

  The hyena struggled again, but whimpered pitifully as Rafiki tightened his hold. “I hate violence. I hate to cause pain, but by my gods I can and will kill you if you refuse me.”

  The hyena relaxed a little and moaned again. Rafiki let loose his jaw.

  “I swear by Aiheu that I will be your loyal servant.”

  “You don’t believe in Aiheu. You will swear by Roh’kash.”

  “I swear by Roh’kash! For God’s sake, let go of me! ”

  Rafiki let go of h
im and rubbed the sore spot on the hyena’s shoulder. “Now I have need of an escort from time to time. I do not plan to stay cooped up in this tree like a woodpecker for the rest of my life. I need my herbs, and I need my sustenance. I must get Alba to nurse the wounded. You treat me well, and I will make you thank your Roh’kash for the day you met me. I am not evil. I will do nothing to harm you.” He got some ointment. “Now about that eye problem. Old Rafiki will fix you up in a jif, as I promised.”

  SCENE: A VISITOR FROM THE EAST

  Taka did not prove to be a popular ruler. His unpopular standing was for far more than the coming of the hyenas, though they were universally despised. His insecurity was overwhelming, and he sought to fight all threats real and perceived with savage force. Still under it all, Taka wanted to be liked. He would sometimes whisper a tender word to a lioness—wanting only a friendly reply--only to be rebuffed or simply ignored. At those moments he was most dangerous, for he would sometimes fly into a rage in frustration and hurt. Soon they learned that he could be placated by simple pleasantries, and they would return his greetings and agree that the weather was indeed fine today. But the very deep resentment crept out through their tone of voice, and he eventually stopped trying to speak with them rather than wince at their insincerity.

  When Taka had been ruler of the Pride Lands for a year, a lioness named Kako had come out of the east seeking asylum for herself and her unborn child. Taka saw in her someone whose opinion of him was not already poisoned, and he felt that she had the sympathy of the other lionesses. So with little deliberation, and that mostly for show, he invited her to stay.