The Tiger Who Would Be King
One
morning the tiger woke up in the jungle and told his mate that he was king of
beasts.
"Leo, the lion, is king of beasts," she
said.
"We need a hange," said the tiger.
"The creatures are crying for a change."
The tigress listened but she could hear no crying,
except that of her cubs.
"I'll be king of beasts by the time the moon
rises," said the tiger.
"It will be a yellow moon with black stripes, in
my honour."
"Oh sure," said the tigress as she went to look after her young, one of whom, a male, very like his father, had got an
imaginary thorn in his paw. The tiger prowled through the jungle till he came
to the lion's den.
"Come out," he roared," and greet the
king of beasts! The king is dead, long live the king!"
Inside the den, the lioness woke her mate. "The
king is here to see you," she said.
"What king?" he inquired, sleepily.
"The king of beasts," she said.
"I am the king of beasts," roared Leo and he
charged out of the den to defend his crown against the pretender.
It was a terrible fight and it lasted until the setting
of the sun. All the animals of the jungle joined in, some taking the side of
the tiger and others the side of the lion. Every creature from the aardvark to
the zebra took part in the struggle to overthrow the lion or to repulse the
tiger, and some did not knot know which they were fighting for, and some fought
for both, and some fought whoever was nearest and some fought for the sake of
fighting.
"What are we fighting for?" someone asked the
aardvark.
"The old order," said the aardvark.
"What are we dying for?" someone asked the
zebra.
"The new order," said the zebra.
When the moon rose, fevered and gibbous, it shone upon
a jungle in which nothing stirred except a macaw and a cockatoo, screaming in
horror. All the beasts were dead except the tiger, and his days were numbered and
his time was ticking away. He was monarch of all he surveyed, but it didn't
seem to mean anything.
Taken from Readings
to Remember, 2004
Naima Untsa
Categories:
cerpen
