“Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant,” short story written by Sekuru JTN
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By Sekuru JTN
The cicadas stopped chirping; crickets chimed in. The sun became a big orange ball and slowly started to hide behind the hill. The goats and chickens that had gone in the nearby bush from Ntano village started to head home. The villagers that had gone to attend to different chores far from the village started to return to the village. The young male children that had been catching river crickets in the sand near the river started to run back. River crickets and other insects were a delicacy. This was a time before the foreign explorers, traders and religious missionaries had reached their kingdom in the deep forest. They stopped eating them and adopted the foods of the foreigners.
Smoke rose in the air around the village as homes prepared food or heated water for bathing. The trees on the hills became black beings as the sun quickly went down behind them. Families gathered around their grandparents’ home. The women in groups around their grandmother and grandaunts. Males in groups around their grandfathers’ and granduncles.
Families in that village ate their suppers according to sex. After the meals it was time to share with others how one’s day was spent, and lessons learned. There was a communal gazebo for the village where the men spent their free time during the day. It was where the elder males taught the young males traditional male skills and ways of males in their kingdom. This was a traditional school called insaka. When the boys showed signs of maturing, they were secluded from their families and had to go into a special class for initiation into traditional male hood. The women also had their own gathering points. Usually, it was in the gazebo of the eldest female villager. They also passed on skills to the young females according to gender. The female traditional school was ichibanse. When girls reached puberty age, they were secluded from their families. They also had to go through initiation training; chisungu.
That evening, there was drumming coming from the initiation hut. Most of the women headed to it. They were preparing girls that were to graduate when the next moon came out. When the moon was out, the villagers usually had a lot of evening entertainment. Traditional dance competitions were held and children to be adults were passed out at special ceremonies. Male villagers in preparation for the next moon’s entertainment had gone for a communal hunt. Therefore, the villagers were in the mood of mingling after a successful hunt and in preparation for festivities.
That evening girls that were considered below age joined males of all ages in the communal gazebo. They were not eligible to go and join elderly females in the initiation hut. However, they were consoled by joining the rest in that evening’s entertainment, storytelling. Usually, mothers told children stories before going to sleep. However, since they were busy that evening, all could join in story telling at the communal gazebo. One of the expected story tellers was the eldest male in the village. Most of the villager loved to hear his stories and songs. All villagers regardless of their generation and biological relationship to him called him Grandfather of Mau; the word. Therefore, all those who were free that evening rushed to
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
the big gazebo. Some wanted to hear him in person and not to be retold his stories by another person. For some, it was the warmth of the fire and the smell of corn being fried on heaths around the gazebo that were too inviting. There were big pans on the wood fire with maize being roasted. Boys were stocking firewood on the heath and frying the corn. Others were braiing mice their favourite snacks. Tobwa their favourite traditional sweetened maize porridge drink was also in abundance.
Grandfather Mau sat on a stool in the centre of the big gazebo. The youngest of the children sat closer to him and one of his great grand daughters sat on his lap. He wore his long coat and small hat though the evening was cool. That could be probably to protect himself from frequent changes of weather. The elderly were said to be like babies and would easily catch colds and pneumonia. So, he was a gentleman and usually warmly dressed. No one really knew how old he was. However, he had been through many of the major events in their lives including a world war. Though he had lost most of his teeth he still loved to chew roasted and pop maize.
Grandfather Mau told stories of animals that lived like people in one village, talked and behaved like people. That evening he weaved an interesting tale of the happenings in the animal kingdom. Here is the tale that they heard.
‘‘Who here have animal totems?’’ he asked.
Most of those present raised their hands. He then told them that a very long time ago, animals were like people. They lived in a community of animals in a village like Ntano. Their beautiful river and only source of water had gradually dried up. Water had to be dug out in the sand pits near the river each day very early in the morning. It dried up as soon as the sun rose. As each day passed it took too long for the water to rise in the shallow wells. The animals started to fear that it was just a matter of a few days before there would be no water. Then the banks of the river became zones of conflicts between the animals. The animals saw the vultures hovering in the hills above the river. They panicked and feared that death was near. They then started to jostle and quarrel over the diminishing water at the only shallow well that had water.
The great lion, Nkalamo, who was then king asked the witch finder, the porcupine, to ask the ancestors for help to find water or bring rain. The porcupine replied that it was not an easy task. He first needed to find out why they had a drought. Maybe the ancestors were angry with the animals and punished them with a drought. The monkeys told the king that the solution lay in individual animals to pray for the rain. They believed that the witch finder was going to divide the community and blame innocent people for an event that was natural. The porcupine then blamed the monkeys for causing the drought.
‘‘What are they afraid of?’’ he asked the king.
He demanded for the monkeys to prove that they were innocent by drinking his herbal concoction. The eland objected. She argued that the porcupine’s practice had worsened the situation as many of the villagers had been fleeing for fear of being branded witches. The hare seconded the eland. She pointed out that the porcupine was a clannist. He was biased against certain clans and wanted out of the kingdom. The rat blamed the custodians of the river, crocodiles and hippos, of being selfish and drinking all the water. A hawk appeared above them. They looked up the sky as it silently hovered a short distance from them. Suddenly it dived into the tall grass. It shot up again. They saw a snake wreathing in its beak. The rat thought the hawk would be after him next and hurried left the indaba.
After hearing the views of many animals around him, the king asked the porcupine to lead them in prayer.
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
Not even a drop of rain fell during and after the porcupine and his followers prayed. Then the animals concluded that the ancestral spirits were not happy with them. The rat stood up and said,
‘‘May I have your attention. If you may recall, I had a fortnight ago shared with you my dream. I told you that grandmother crocodile. May her soul rest in peace, had come to me very angry that our king had permitted fish eagles to catch more fish in our river. They were leaving not many fish for the crocodiles. She cried that he must leave the throne immediately.’’
The jackal went further to say that the king should take responsibility for the failure of his appointees. The fowl tremulously clacked at the rat and jackal. She accused them of having a grudge against the king. The king had rejected their application to be cooks in the palace.
“From where I stand, I do not think that is your opinion but that of the hyena,” the giraffe accused the jackal.
The wild dog who was chatting amicably with the hyena rose and howled abuse at the giraffe.
‘‘Tallo the problem with you is that you are tall but have a small head! How can you bring big buyer here in an issue that we all know he has nothing to do with.’’
Hyaena indeed was the biggest buyer of beer at the beer hut. He was generous in sharing the beer port with those who could not afford to pay. The giraffe retreated quickly out of the indaba.
“Why is Mr. Giraffe not being protected? This is an affront to free speech!” the antelope asked sharply while looking at the buffalo.
The buffalo shrugged.
“What a policeman! He is scared of gangs!” remarked the squirrel softly to no one in particular.
“He will be asking the tortoise to go and collect more evidence and asking the snail to triangulate it,” the baboon on the branch near the squirrel chuckled.
The porcupine then asked the animals to allow him to pray and again. If the ancestors rejected his prayer, then all would know that the king was to blame for the drought.
So, on that memorable day the animals’ prayer was not answered by their ancestors. They all blamed the king for the drought and deaths. The hyena stood up and asked the people what they wished to do since the ancestors were not happy with their king. The wild dog shouted,
‘‘The king must resign, and you should become our king!’’
Many of the animal joined in shouting for King Nkalamo to step down immediately. The giraffe shouted from afar that they should give the king a chance to be heard. The king remarked that he was a listening king and was stepping down as per the wish of the people. The jackal then run to the hyaena and lifted him on his back.
‘‘Hail your new king.’’
However, the wild goat who had been watching and pulling on his beard, run and head butted the hip of jackal. Hyaena jumped and the wild goat ran away before jackal and hyaena could attack him.
‘‘That was an objection,’’ the wild pig said with a laugh. ‘‘Who else is objecting to hyaena becoming our king?’’
There were many animals from the grass eating clans that raised up their hands.
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
The zebra proposed the elephant to become the new king. The leopard rose up and vehemently objected to zebra’s proposal.
‘‘He’s a foreigner and eats a lot! There will be massive deforestation if he is to reside here with us! Each time he comes here he destroys part of the forest as he brings down trees. Where will I stay and sleep if he is to be all the time here. And you and you,’’ he pointed at a sable and giraffe, ‘‘where will you find nice leaves if there are no trees?’’
Despite the leopard’s objections the plant eaters’ clans were in support of the elephant.
‘‘We need our own,’’ campaigned the reed rat as he moved away from the crocodile.
The crocodile responded,
‘‘How do you know that by voting in your relative, she will improve your welfare? You may just be exchanging one tyrant for another.’’
‘‘The axe can easily convince the trees that it is in the wood’s family because of its wooden handle,’’ mused the tortoise.
After the debate, the animals voted. When the results were counted the hyaena and elephant had equal votes. Only the former king had not taken part in the votes. So, the animals called for him to cast his vote. The hyena and jackal went up to whisper to him and urged that he had to cast his vote in favour of a fellow fresh meat eater. However, when his vote was announced by rooster, he had cast it in favour of the elephant. The hyaena left in a huff and eyed the old lion with fury as he went to lift the trunk of the victorious elephant. From that day the hyaenas and jackals don’t like lions.
When the elephant became the queen, the eagle was one of the ambassadors that came to congratulate her.
‘‘Your highness. I have been across many ridges. Where this river begins there is new settlement of men. They are digging ores from the ridge where there is the source of this river. There are also large farms that are diverting water from this river. Therefore, this is a long-term challenge. My country is willing to assist if you wish for assistance.’’
However, his solution of flying in water from the African ocean across many ridges, she thought would cost her chiefdom a lot of money. She was informed that the eagle’s chiefdom was willing to loan the elephant’s chiefdom the funds for the airlift. She informed the eagle that she needed to think about it.
The okapi came and informed her that he had heard of an animal that was good at finding water and could help.
‘‘Your excellence ambassador Okapi. I also can smell water and know where it is found. However, it is far underground and the ground there is very hard and rocky. None of us here knows how to remove that hard soil and rocks.’’
Ambassador Okapi assured the king that the person he had in mind could do that.
A few days later okapi returned with a stranger. The stranger was of animal characteristics that had never been seen in Ntano kingdom. He was of the cat family and yet was not like any cat that they knew. He was bigger than the biggest lion that they had ever seen, their former king. He stood as tall as the giraffe. He had a small golden ring with a diamond on hanging from one of his nostrils and a bigger one dangling from the pierced robe of his right ear. He had anklets of golden chains on his left ankle. He had a tattoo on his bum with letters of a language no one in the chiefdom could read. Another tattoo was inked on the left of his broad chest. It was of a heart pierced with a small arrow.
Ambassador Okapi with flair and theatrical gestures sung out,
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
‘‘Let me introduce to your court, your excellence, Leobear. He is fondly called by the name of LP by all who know him. He is a globally renowned magnificent athlete, acrobat, musician, and engineer. I bring him here to you as he has volunteered to help you resolve the issue of water shortage.’’
Leobear had with a slight limp walked over to bump the paws of Queen Nzobvu and members of the royal establishment. The surprising thing was that though he walked with a slight limp and looked to be too obese and clumsy; he was quite agile and able to stand up sometimes like a bonobo or gorilla and run on his two paws as fast as any cat. Though his jaws, talons and long fangs showed that he was a meat eater and dangerous, he preferred to eat soya beans and lettuce. He was also quite amicable. Though he did not know the dialect of Ntano, he had a way of expressing himself that was easily understandable by the other animals.
According to Leobear explanation to Queen Nzobvu, he had volunteered to help when he heard of Ntano chiefdom’s challenges. He had bought his freedom from his master. He had worked as an entertainer for his master. So, he toured many kingdoms and earned himself a fortune. However, he had an accident while travelling and he stayed in a medical stable for a long time. It was then he started longing to know his parents and indigenous land. So, after he recovered and had been discharged by his former master, he had been on a worldwide search. However, he could not find any kingdom that had animals like him. He eventually decided to offer help to other animals so that they could attain the same type of development that he had seen in some of the top kingdoms on his tours.
Ambassador Okapi requested to speak to the king in privacy after presenting Leobear to her. Then when they were alone, he said,
‘‘He is a good boy and very strong! He is likely to find you the water and get into flowing into your lair. I have to humbly make a request. You know I had to bring him from across many ridges and many oceans. I have now run out of money. I humbly wish to be reimbursed. I also shall in return tell you a secret on how to make him feel happy all the time and do anything that you want him to do for you.’’
The queen obliged. Then she was told to sing to Leobear this song.
You are the king of forest
Mightier than any beast
But your kind heart is the very best
You sing and dance not like the rest
Sadness when with you should not last.
‘‘He shall do whatever you ask him then to do. When he completes your assignment, give him this ball of appreciation to snack on.’’
Queen Nzobvu asked Ambassador Okapi to give it to her royal retainer. The retainer closely looked at it, smelled and tasted it. He then whispered to Queen Nzobvu,
‘‘It is the pain killer that porcupine administer for all pain ailment.’’
Queen Nzobvu hurriedly picked up the ball from her retainer’s outstretched hand with her trunk and smelled.
‘‘You’re right! This is dagga but it smells like a rhino peed on it!’’
Ambassador Okapi whispered to the chief retainer that the herb used to make the ball was a good cure for all types of ailments. He also asked for more information on the pain killer used
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
by porcupine and where it was to be found. He called it an exchange of knowledge between kingdoms.
‘‘Your excellence this is not the common chews that you find in settlements. This is produced in a special manufacturing process.’’
She asked him how much one ball was. When he told her the price and that he was the only supplier, she declined to buy the balls. Then he showed her another ball wrapped in dry leaves. When the retainer opened it, she saw white powder. He requested the retainer to smell and taste it.
‘‘Sorry sir, I can’t. I know this stuff. It comes after dagga has been soaked in a calabash of water for over a week. Then the fermented water is poured on a clay tray. It is left to dry in the sun. What remains is this powder. It is more powerful than the dried leaves of dagga.’’
The ambassador’s eyebrows rose to his hair line. He got closer to the retainer and shrilly said,
‘‘Excuse me sir! This is a very powerful energiser and nutritious food supplement. I had to cross the ocean to the land of ice in the south of this world to get it. There the sun does not have an effect. It is so cold that you become an ice stone if you are not super warmly dressed. There are only big fish-eating ducks there. They produce and use that stuff to keep warm. Otherwise, they would die…’’
Queen Nzobvu slowly shook her head and said quietly to the ambassador,
‘‘He can stay and work according to his passion and not through force or magical and herbal spells. I am against influencing the thoughts of anyone by trickery. And, and please…Please don’t give any of that salt ball to any of my subjects or I shall ask buffalo to whip you in the centre of the village and lock you up in the dungeon.’’
The queen and other animals were initially afraid of Leobear. However, after she sung to him, he begun to laugh, clap and dance around. He then did what no other animal had done before. He did the split, somersaulted, and spun on his head. Other animals also laughed, and the children followed his four kicks to the right, shake your backside and wiggle, turn to the left, then four kicks to the left and wiggle and wiggle. Then move forward. The local animals liked his friendliness and readiness to entertain. They joined in singing and dancing. The monkey rattled gourds filled with stones, the hippo voiced like he was bass drum, the zebra tapped his hooves on a log to produce melodic sounds and the antelope added her soprano to Leobear’s semi-baritone.
However, when he got tired and sat down and as the crowd called out, ‘‘encore’’, he was unable to stand up again. He asked the queen for pain balls if she had. When she replied that she did not have. He hit into his lower left leg. To everyone’s surprise, it got detached from his knee.
‘‘Sorry everyone! I lost part of my leg in an accident and my master had to get this wooden one crafted for me.’’ He waved it in the air and the rings on it rang.
He stood up, hopped around, sang and danced to the ringing of the rings around the ankle of the wooden foreleg. The surprised spectators started to clap for him, sing along and laugh again.
Tired he sat down. Queen Nzobvu ordered that he be given a traditional drink that would both help alleviate the pain and energise him. They all listened to him afterwards as he explained what he needed to do to fetch water from underground. Help me collect very large bamboos. Mice help me drill holes in the bamboos for water to pass through once I get the bamboos to reach the underground river. Chances are that you may have continuous shortages of water as the humans at trapping water for their use in their settlement. Therefore, we shall also need to
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
construct ponds to hold the water from boreholes. Afterwards we shall build underground cisterns to trap rainwater.
When hyaena heard that the plan involved drilling for underground water, he laughed hysterically at the idea.
“Old Nkalamo brought a blood thirsty porcupine! Now Na-Nsofu has brought a monster Nkalamo to bring water up from underground, what’s wrong with our kings?”
Na was a prefix used for the names of females in the languages of the animals. Nsofu was the name for Nzobvu in one of the primitive dialects of the animals’ languages. When he told jackal and wild dog about the gossip, they had laughed and run to the palace to see the stranger. After downing a few gourds of traditional beer, jackal had tottered to the drummers and forced them to stop drumming.
“Eh, eh, eh eeeveery chhiiiiking “From where I stand, I can see that jackal you are not drunk! You stop acting and tell us what on your mind,” the giraffe remarked.
Jackal slowly turned to look up at the giraffe. If looks could turn an animal into salt, the giraffe could have immediately become a pillar of salt.
“Eeeh. I was saying before I was rudely interrupted that she….the elepha… hmm….the… the king has a sign to show his subjects that he’s favoured by our ancestors. I wish to ask our new king to show whether she is favoured by our ancestors by praying to them for rain.”
However, the new king took the challenge in her strides.
“I thought you would ask me to show you whether I am a woman!”
She informed the villagers that those who wished to pray can go ahead but she would like to try getting water to the village using the way of the foreigner, Leobear.
The elephant led Leobear and some of the animals to a spot near the forest where she had smelled a lot of water underground. Then the gathered animals went into the forest to gather large bamboos. The mice did not come forward to help bore the bamboos after they were collected. The snail volunteered to look for mice and find out why they had not pitched up. Then shrill came up to the king and informed her what had happened after Leobear announced that mice would be needed to help out.
The leader of the mouse afterwards had stopped the mice from helping him.
‘‘Looks to me as if we are going to be trapped and used as sacrifices to appease the gods,’’ he had told his followers.
The shrill informed the king that his clan had volunteered to drill the holes in the bamboos middle. So, they did. Leobear joined the bamboos together and with the help King Nkalamo hammered them down. They successfully drilled a bore hole. Queen Nzobvu came and sucked the water out for water to flow.
There was jubilation from the animals that were there. When the hyena, jackal and wild dog were at a tavern on the outskirt of the village. They heard the drumming and singing from the water site. So, hyaena sent wild dog to check out what was happening. When he took long to return, hyena and jackal followed him. They watched the dancing crowd from behind the watchers.
Leobear announced that as the animals were many, there was need to dig more boreholes around the settlements of clans in the kingdom. He asked for volunteers to cut down more bamboos and poles to be used in the water project. We also need more volunteers to construct water reservoirs.
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
The turnout of volunteers was very impressive. Even some of the animals that had fled the chiefdom started to return and to take part. The rooster would wake up the people very early before the sun rose and cry out.
‘‘Call, call, call for you to wake up and get to workyyyyyyyyyyyyy!’’
The animals would get up quickly take their axes and machete and head for the forest. They would go singing loudly and happily jogging the way Leobear had taught them.
The queen then found herself busy meeting ambassadors and going out to meet leaders in neighbouring kingdoms. They wanted her to share her experience on working on a water project.
Then one-day hyaena approached the queen and said he wanted to volunteer as an advisor.
‘‘I have observed that it is taking too long for a borehole to get drilled. Leobear is not keeping to the time plan. So, animals are dying in areas where you are not delivering water, my queen. You shall find that you have very unhappy voters in the majority of areas where you are yet to go and drill. That may cost you votes! Yes, Leobear is a good engineer, but he needs someone like me to get the drilling done within time. I am a very experienced in animal social and economic development. I can help Leobear catch up. Then you shall be assured of having many happy voters for you to win the next election.’’
The queen then appointed hyaena to assist on the water project. He then went to Leobear and told him that the queen had appointed him to be the operation manager. While Leobear was to remain at the site, he was to take charge of field operations. The next morning after the rooster woke them up. The jackals howled as they came out of their lair. They announced that they were appointed as supervisor by hyaena for field workers. They then yelped at and whipped the bamboo cutters and carriers (fetchers) that were slow in getting into the forest. When the fetchers came out of the forest that day, there were some with black eyes or bites marks or swelled skin to show whip marks. When Leobear saw the fetchers coming out of the forest with bundles on their heads and not singing, he rushed to meet them. The jackals claimed that they had met wasps and bees that day.
‘‘Boss, we saw some ripe mangoes in trees near the hill. Seems the owner of the trees have protected them. So, when we got there, we were stung by bees and wasps!’’ one of them explained amid guffaws from his friends.
That jackal explained further that as they were running from the stinging insects, some animals among them had fallen or hit trees and had hurt themselves. Later that evening, Leobear while on his evening jog, he had visited some of the fetchers in their homes to check on their condition. He also wanted to find out more on what had happened that day from the fetchers themselves.
The next morning, he was up very early and stood at the crossroad waiting for the animals coming from all sorts of directions where they met the jackals. Some fetchers did not come due to the injuries that they had suffered the previous day. When the hyaena and jackals arrived, Leobear told them that they should return to their homes until further notice. Hyaena argued that Leobear did not have authority over hyaena. He told him that he had been appointed by the queen to reduce the time that the project was talking to build a bore hole. According to him, he was above Leobear in status.
‘‘I am the chief consultant on this project,’’ he shouted.
When Leobear insisted to see hyaena’s letter of appointment, hyaena then showed Leobear,
‘‘This is my letter of appointment,’’ he lifted a fist. ‘‘Out of here now and stop interfering in my work or else…’’
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
Leobear laughed at hyaena, ‘’Or else what?’’ and continued to insist on documentary proof.
‘‘I do not have to prove anything to you! Look you have spoiled this lot! Just a few of them are now working. Most of them are spending more time in the forest gossiping and practicing your dances. And you what are you doing now? Females are now queuing at your tent to get tattooed. What do you think you are doing?’’ annoyed hyaena shouted.
Hyaena’s wife had got tattooed a few days earlier without hyaena’s permission. He was very furious with her, but she argued that it was her body and she had a right to do anything with it. So, he had gone to retired King Nkalamo for male counsel. He also hoped for reconciliation and solidarity with him.
When the lionesses saw him trotting on the path to their lair, they called out to the cubs to stop playing and go and hide behind the anthill until they were called. They called out to Nkalamo who was napping after a heavy lunch that there was a visitor. As Nkalamo stood and run to stand in front of his wives and daughters, hyaena hailed and waved to him amicably.
‘‘I see you great king. How are you today. I haven’t seen you for a while. So, I came over to see if you’re alright.’’
One of the lionesses whispered,
‘‘Since when did he worry about anyone than himself?’
Another remarked,
‘‘And he is grinning like a honey barger that has found a beehive.’’
Another lioness narrowed her eyes and whispered,
‘‘Don’t trust a ratel’s grin. That skunk makes me smell that he’s up to something. Girls, should we take him out?’’
Nkalamo whispered to his females that they should hear first what he’s up to. If they took him out in their area, it would be a declaration of war between clans. So, Nkalamo shouted gruffly to hyaena to stop where he was and tell them what he wanted near their lair.
Hyaena clapped to show great respect to Nkalamo and asked if they could have a private chat. Nkalamo glanced at his mai gulu. His first lady nodded, and he agreed. Mai gulu directed her juniors to spread out. The females walked away to position themselves far but around the two males. They eyed the surrounding bush carefully in case of an attack from hyaenas’ relatives. Hyaena and Nkalamo walked off to talk under a big tree far from the lionesses. Hyaena then informed Nkalamo that he was suspicious Leobear had come with bad intentions. He glanced this way and that way before telling Nkalamo that he had seen his lovely wives emerging out of Leobear’s tent and Leobear had with much familiarity caressed one of them behind. Old Nkalamo stared in the sky for a long time before he spoke in his very authoritative deep voice.
‘‘Mr Hyaena. So, you came all the way from your lair to tell me your suspicions. So, you want me to mistrust my wives of fifty lion years because a stranger touched one of them. Do you want me to beat her or divorce her or what?’’
Hyaena answered that he only wished to help the retired king to know what is going as a fellow male. Old Nkalamo again stared into the clear sky for a long time before responding.
‘‘Thank you for your kind consideration. Tell me, Mr Hyaena, what made you to be called a male name by your parents?’’
Hyaena laughed and replied that it is common sense.
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
‘‘Common sense is sometimes not common. Anyway, I shall tell you. It had depended on what is between your hind legs. So, in your thinking and if you compare what Leobear and you have. Can you be jealousy of him?’’
Hyaena looked at the ground and between his fore legs, scratched his head and then grinned at Nkalamo.
Nkalamo then continued,
‘‘Whoever created Leobear worked well in molding his muscular body. Check the bulge of his chest, the big lump of his biceps and calves. None of us as are richly endowed in muscles as he is. His creator if you have not realised made him for entertainment. And you as a fellow male and because you are mature, won’t be amused with that show of masculinity. You may admire him for a short time, but then when you think deeply may pity him and also ourselves. Yes, with hindsight, we contributed to the capture and sell of our relatives to foreigners abroad. It is you and I as elders and leaders who have made our best young ones and rivals flee to other kingdoms. We have made it very difficult for them to look after themselves each day. We are not creating economic opportunities for them but ourselves. In this modern era, can we surely blame all our challenges on the evil eye and casting of bad spells on us by our neighbours? I blame myself for not stopping porcupine from carrying out witch hunts. I thought he was defending me because all we do as clans is fight over the throne. Now I see that all our systems benefit only the ruler and his cronies. We have shut out new ideas while our neighbours are benefitting from the free flow of ideas and interactions with the outside world. Our children now are fleeing and risking crossing this ridge and the sea to try and find better pasture.
It is good that Leobear has come to us. Now you can see what happens to us beyond this ridge. You can see what those hunters and circus owners that trap our relatives do to them afterwards. It is time we started thinking of the reason our kingdom is lagging and what can we do as the population increases and this valley become too small for it. Think of beyond those clouds above us, Mr Hyaena.
Maybe the very young males admire his physique and start to copy or push and lift rocks to get the same type of body. Now our female partners are different. His creator knew their wishes and specifically targeted them to return and return to his shows. That way he continued to make more money out of poor Leobear until he made so much that he didn’t need him anymore. And do you know what he did so that his business competitors or fans of Leobear didn’t have a similar animal like Leobear?’’
The hyaena who had been closely following what Nkalamo was saying shook his head.
‘‘He didn’t complete creating some of the important organs and giving him a sense of procreation. So, there will be no other like him. He’s the first and last. Leobear and none of us will ever know what he is. Is he male or is he female! I saw that when he just arrived. He also is physically an animal eater but was educated to eat only plant foods. I assumed that his creator did that because of where he wanted him to be; a house or circus animal. He placed him among female entertainers when he was growing up. Or he may have been guiding his master’s harem. His grip and response to me orally and voice told me that when we were greeting. Leobear searches for his parents as well as who he is. To our partners, he may be their emotional friend but not in the way you think. So, go back home and reconcile with my sister. Good rest to you.’’
Hyaena recalled that he had moved around the kingdom talking to other males in the hope that they could help him throw out Leobear from the project and kingdom. However, though
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
most of the males politely listened to him, they did not agree to publicly protest against Leobear.
So, when Leobear continued to insist on being shown hyaena’s letter of appointment, he was further infuriated with him. Furious hyaena then unleashed punches on Leobear. Unaccustomed to fights, Leobear just laughed hysterically and wiggled about. This annoyed hyaena further. He called the jackal to join in and beat Leobear. Jumping, turning about and laughing Leobear found himself retreating backwards into the forest. When he could not bear the beating anymore, he turned and fled into the forest. The fetchers of bamboos and logs seeing this, fled in all the directions. However, the jackals shepherded them back to the crossroad. Hyaena castigated them for being not disciplined. He informed them that he was introducing new work rules to improve the fetchers’ performance. They were then shepherded into the forest to continue cutting bamboos and logs for the water project.
On their way back to the water site hyena saw a hawk appeared flying about in a grass field in front of them. He then thought of the queen that was frequently travelling across the ridge. Then he wondered in a whisper to the jackal and wild dog on benefits of the queen traveling far from her office. He accused her of being worse in leadership than retired king Nkalamo. They then loudly wondered for the all the fetchers to hear why the queen was always travelling abroad. The jackal loudly accused her of going alone on study tours and not declaring to the other animals the presents that the foreigners were giving her. The wild dog called for a change of leadership. The following day the whole village was accusing the queen of being selfish. They chorused that the elections were long overdue and needed to be conducted immediately.
The messenger pigeon alerted the queen to the calls from her subjects. She queenly returned to her village. It was the serval who led the petitioners to the palace. The racoon beat the major drum as the racoon led out the people’s petition calling for her resignation. She agreed to hold early elections. She again stood against hyaena. There were vicious wild dogs at the polling stations. Many members of the grass, leaves and roots eating clans were chased by the dogs and foxes. Most of the animals that turned up to vote had been ferried in by the jackal during the night. The he-goat accused hyaena of underhand methods and that the election was not free and fair. He showed the other animals the cast votes shredded by hyaena’s followers. He argued that those who voted for the hyenas were newcomers to the village and that did not know him well.
Hyena’s supporters argued that Queen Nzobvu’s followers just need to accept the results of the election. The viper that had acted as an external observer called for the acceptance of the results of the election. He put up an advert on big trees in the animals’ settlements.
‘‘We are concerned that losers of elections in the animals do not readily accept their lose. This endangers democracy,’’ it read.
Most voters feared the viper and had not turned up at polling stations where he was said likely to visit.
Queen Nzobvu conceded defeat, hyaena pranced about. He danced and laughed the Leobear styles.
A day after he decreed that all should stop greeting and dancing the Leobear ways. There would be no more tattooing and using the new horns to listen to foreign music. The decree stated that they were from a foreign culture. The government was concerned at the youngsters adoption of foreign cultures in the kingdom. If continued they were likely to erode their good traditional cultures and customs. Further all bamboos and logs were to be moved from the
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
forest department to the defense department. The animals were notified that the chiefdom needed to build new fortifications against a likely invasion by Leobear and his friends. A spy dove had reported an amassment of foreign troops near their southern borders. The new chief and his close relatives will shift to a compound near the first drilled borehole. A new palace will be bult. Everyone was ordered to contribute a minimum of one hen’s egg as a minimum. That notice went on to inform the animals that both former leaders were to be on house arrest to prevent them from fleeing the country. Investigations had been instituted to unveil their participation in the pillaging of the government’s treasury by foreign water contractors and consultants. The kingdom will be made aware news on any development on the issues of accusations against the kingdom’s former leaders.
‘‘Be alert, do not let the kingdom be destroyed by corruption,’’ the animals were urged!
When Nzobvu walked over to the lair of Nkalamo, he came out and they sat together under the big tree on the big fallen trunk. His wives watched them from a distance as he apologised to her.
‘‘Sorry Mama Queen for not having been there to campaign for you.’’
He informed her that she should have listened to the old song that is sung like this,
Whatever you do in this world,
Think of what makes you happy.
Take very good care of those in need.
But know in this world,
most people easily forget good deeds.
Whether your dress up or move around naked,
Not everyone for you will be glad.
Don’t judge people’s show of their teeth,
As being in love or happy with your deeds.
A day shall come when you shall know the truth.
This world has always been unfair my friend.
You sacrifice sweat for your future and blood,
Then from nowhere the opportunist shall come,
And grab what you treasure dearly.
We live surrounded by liars and thieves of our time.
Eat quietly and quickly before in the vulture fly.
You sing, dance and enjoy yourself today.
As you don’t know what destiny has planned for your life.
Nkalamo then told Nzobvu that he regretted not coming out to help advise the animals on governance.
‘‘Who else could have explained the politics of the village to the new settlers and the foreign workers better?’’ he asked in earnest.
He informed her of his own battles with the hyena’s clan that he had not informed the citizens of the kingdom about for the sake of harmony. She learnt too late from him that though the lion is king of the jungle, he has to contend with hyenas and flees. He concluded by saying,
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
‘‘Your experience and my experience in governance should not only be shared in our talks as former rulers. Let’s share them with other members of our community. May be then, we shall not be making a lot of mistakes. There are no schools of leadership in this chiefdom to prepare us to rule.’’
Nzobvu signed to Nkalamo and then stamped hard on the ground.
‘‘Sorry I saw a small heap of soil forming up. Mole had come up to spy on us. So, I crushed him.’’
Nkalamo and Nzobvu sniffed around. The big ears of Nzobvu also moved forward for her to listening attentively for strange sounds. The stocks in arrow formation flew past near the eastern horizon of the animals’ settlement. Satisfied that there were no more spies, Nzobvu said.
‘‘Looking at what is happening right now, the hyaena won’t let us do that. We will be considered as inciting people to overthrow him. We need to start our own nation across the ridge. I am deliberately calling it a nation and not a chiefdom or kingdom. You cannot have one person thinking and deciding what is best for everyone in a community like right now. This a kingdom and the king owns everything. We are all clannists and fighting each other to get one of our members on the throne and not thinking about what is good for the entire animal world. Man is pushing and is increasingly encroaching on our land even in the remotest corners of our world. We are now endangered. How do we respond to this encroachment? This land belongs to all in it; that is the animals, bird, and plants. The animals will need to be empowered to periodically evaluate the performance of a ruler. We also need to set up a council of eminent persons to advise the rulers and citizens of our next kingdom. The present elective council of agents of animals is compromised.’’
She stopped talking and looked up. Nkalamo also looked up. They saw a hawk hover near them. It dived down and then shot up again. The flock of egrets landed in a field near the herd of buffaloes.
Nzobvu said excitedly,
‘‘Look! The egrets are back! Rains will be here soon.’’
Nkalamo laughed and said,
‘‘Madam, you eyesight is not very good. Those are stocks.’’
She peered hard at them and then whispered to Nkalamo,
‘‘You’re right. I noticed that ground spiders are closing their holes and I knew that our ancestors have heard our cries. Rain will be here soon. It is odd that each time something major is happening here that hawk is around. It has just reminded me what Leobear once told me.’’
‘‘Hmmm! What did he say?’’ he whispered as followed the flight of the hawk near them.
‘‘That actually, our world is not real. It is an illusion. A ranch of someone. And we are not mistresses of our destinies! Superior beings out there determine what happens in here. That hawk according to Leobear is sent by them to spy on us. Don’t you wonder where the unexplainable lights and sounds when we are asleep come from?’’
Nkalamo sighed deeply and beat his front paw on his forehead and said,
‘‘I am also looking at that flock of egrets and trying to remember something similar that he said to me at one time.’’
Nzobvu looked at the flock for a while with him. Nkalamo said quietly,
‘‘Old age is a problem. I can’t remember. I wish Leobear was around. That guy was sharp.’’
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
Nzobvu turned around and smiled at him.
‘‘You know why he was different? Most of you guys in this kingdom are like Buffalo bull and Wild he-goat. You are driven by your endowments and all your energies go down to siring all over the kingdom. You are not driven by love and even kill your own male children as you see them as competitors. I miss him greatly!’’
Nkalamo was surprised to see that Nzobvu could be sad and emotional over someone.
‘’He is the only one that I met for the first time and I felt he understood my joys and pains as a female. Wanting to connect with me not to get at my treasure and when he is eaten, disappear and leave me to handle the consequences alone.’’
Nkalamo laughed,
‘‘My queen. I am strongly balanced both in mind and in physique. I shall always be there for you if you need a shoulder to cry on.’’
She looked at him with a look of great disbelief. They laughed. Then Nkalamo said,
‘‘Laughter is a good for us at a time of stress like now. I now remember that I was laughing at Leobear when he talked of superior beings watching us. To prove his point, he had pointed at the stocks. Now, look carefully at their legs of the egrets.’’
There was a cough from the lionesses sitting near the anthill. Nzobvu and Nkalamo glanced behind at the pride. Mai gulu met the eyes of Nkalamo and narrowed her eyes as she slowly stood up. Behind her a junior lioness whispered.
‘‘She was too close to LP and even learning how to split. Now that he’s dead, looks like she’s trying to replace him.’’
Nkalamo slowly scratched his grey beard as he returned to the conversation with Nzobvu. Nzobvu stood up from the fallen trunk and said to him,
‘‘Sorry I have taken your time. I must leave now but I see what you mean! This is new! The egrets also now have rings on them like Leobear’s!’’
The next morning, Nzobvu and Nkalamo could not be found. The hyaenas and jackals laughed hysterically when the fetchers informed them of their disappearance.
The serval who worked as the jester at the palace of King Chimbwi said loudly,
‘‘They have eloped! Didn’t you see it coming? That ancient papa has been charcoaling his grey mane lately and yesterday evening he was serenading on top of his voice.’’
As the hyaenas and jackals present laughed, suddenly they saw a cloud coming towards the water hole. The jackal who was head security officer to King Chimbwi shouted,
‘‘Get the king out of here quickly! That cloud looks bad! It’s dangerous for us to be here’’
A trumpet sounded as a herd of elephants came charging into the hyaenas’ compound. Only the fetchers were around when the herd came to a stop. The hyaenas and their cronies had disappeared into the many big holes around the area. The elephants were too big to enter the tunnel compound of the hyaenas. The elder brother of Queen Nzobvu shouted,
‘‘Come out you rascals! This time you have gone too far. Bring her back without harm. You pull out even a hair from her nose and we shall burn you out of your holes.’’
Not very far away from the compound, porcupine the mystic noble of the kingdom stood defiantly outside his den.
‘‘I have nothing to do with the disappearance of grandfather Nkalamo. I dare anyone to come near me if you don’t want to see the sun set today!’’
Njovu Hyaena dethrones King Lion and Queen Elephant
The pride of lions howled angrily, but fearing his body javelins and magic did not move closer. The monkey was in a tree nearby. He started throwing big and hard-shelled fruits at the porcupine. The porcupine in his defense shot out his juveniles. The lions run out of their range. When they saw that he had no more juvenile to fire on them, they run back to attack him. The porcupine then dived into his den where his family was hiding. The first lion followed him inside but got stuck as his shoulders were too broad. The other lions pulled her out. They then started digging to widen the burrow.
‘‘You are wasting your time. By this time, he should have got out on the other side of the ridge. said the monkey to the pride with much certainty.
However, it was hours later that they gave up and decided to go to picket at the palace of hyaenas. They found that the fetchers and others from the village had joined the elephants at the palace and ransacked the compound. The golden furniture, barricades and ornaments had been looted.
The owl hooted out,
‘‘The problem with you masses, you are not proactive. You’re too busy sorting out your small daily challenges and not thinking of the common good. You have seen the kingdom has been deteriorating. There is intolerance. Animals are increasingly getting beaten, killed and banished from the kingdom for voicing out their critical thoughts. Yet you don’t raise a paw or hoof to stop it. And now that it has happened to your close relative, you are up and calling for revenge!’’
The animals below hurled insults at the owl, some throw stones at him and others run to climb the tree. However, he was unharmed as he flew away.
Grandfather Mau in concluding the story said,
‘‘I know that you expect me to like other story tellers to amuse you with the usual comical stories of the hare fooling the mighty lion. Today’s tale is to make you think on what is going on in this and our neighbours’ kingdoms. The opportunists are always among us. Very successfully in using the loopholes in our norms and the chaos of our society to strive. You cannot fully eradicate vermin but just be able to control them. The opportunists can be me or you. So, please do not be manipulative or become a bully or trickster. Think of the common good and your neighbour always. I hope you have learned one or two lessons from my tale.
