TOOTHLESS LION

TOOTHLESS LION

ROAMING THE LANDSCAPE ALONE, HE'S WITHOUT A PRIDE, WITHOUT HOPE OR A FUTURE.....ALL ALONE. HE HASN'T EATEN IN DAYS, HASN'T SLEPT IN A WEEK AND STILL NO SIGN OF ANOTHER....NOT IN THE WIND,NOT ON THE HORIZON, THERE'S NONE OF THEM LEFT........THE ONLY TRACE HIS GREAT RACE EVER LIVED IS NOW THE SMELL OF DEATH .....THE LAUGHING CHATTER OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. THIS KINGDOM ONCE RULED BY, NOT HIM,BUT HIS KIND.....THE MIGHTY LION. DO THEY NOT UNDER STAND THIS GRAND TRAGEDY? HOW THE BALANCE HAS BEEN UPSET FOREVER? IT'S AS THOUGH THEY CELEBRATE HIS LONELINESS, HIS TERROR GLAD THAT HE IS THE LAST.HE IS THIN, TOOTHLESS LOST EVERY CHANCE FOR A MATE, A LOVER, A FAMILY.......OFFSPRING. IN SOME WAYS THE SOLITARY LIFE HE LIVED SAVED HIM FROM THE PLAGUE, THE VIOLENCE WHICH WIPED OUT THE MIGHTY PRIDES. IT STARTED 12 MOONS AGO.....THE FIRST DEATH. HE WATCHED FROM A DISTANCE, THE PRIDE WAS MOURNING THE LOSS OF THE GREAT LEADER TO SOME KIND OF BITE. FOR THE FIRST DAY THE PRIDE SLEPT RIGHT BE HIS SIDE,LICK HIS LIMP BODY, PROTECTING IT FROM THE DOGS AND VULTURES........THEN AFTER A DAY THE YOUNG BECAME VIOLENT FEARLESSLY ATTACKING THE ELDERS. STUPIDLY THE ELDERS LAUGHED OFF THEIR BITES AND SCRATCHES, TILL THE CUBS BEGAN TO TEAR EACH OTHER APART, BUT BY THIS TIME ......IT WAS TOO LATE......IT HAD STARTED. THEY WERE EATING THE FLESH, BABOONS CHEERING, DOGS LAUGHING, ZEBRAS SINGING AND THE ELEPHANTS TAKING MENTAL PICTURES..... THEIR WAS PLENTY OF FOOD. THIS SCARED THE TOOTHLESS LION TO THE BONE, SO HE RAN AND RAN AND RAN, BUT EVERY WHERE HE WENT THAT SAME LEVEL OF CARNAGE FOLLOWED. WHY HAD HIS KIND RESORT TO CANNIBALISM? HE TRAVELED GREAT DISTANCES TO FIND ONE THAT WAS NOT INFECTED BY THIS DUMB LUST FOR FLESH, BUT FINAL REALIZED THAT THE FURTHER HE STAYED AWAY FROM THE INFECTED PRIDES THE BETTER CHANCE TO SURVIVE.

AND NOW, AFTER A GREAT TIME HAS PASSED HE FACES THE JUDGEMENT AND WRATH OF THE KINGDOM. THE FEAR THAT STILL WALKS WITH HIM THE ANIMALS DON'T SEE OR SMELL, THAT SENSE OF DANGER HAS BECOME DORMANT AND DOMINATED WITH A PETTY REVENGE SHARED BY ALL....... THIS IT! HE IS THE LAST OF HIS KIND AND ENEMY NUMBER 1 TO EVERY ANIMAL AT THE WATER HOLE ............ BUT HE NEEDS WATER. SO HE SITS DOWN AND BEGINS TO WONDER HOW THE LION, NOT HIM, NOT THE TOOTHLESS COWARD HE HAS BEEN ALL HIS LIFE, BUT THE GREAT LION, HOW SHOULD THE KINGS BE REMEMBERED? FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER HE STOOD WITH OUT FEAR AND STARTED TOWARDS THE SMALL POLE OF DARK WATER SURROUNDED BY PREY...... TO ATTACK IS SURE DEATH, HE IS NOW OUT NUMBERED, THEY WON'T RUN BUT FIGHT BACK... SO HE CONFIDENTLY STRIDES DOWN THE DRIED DIRT RIGHT TO THE WARM WAKE OF MUD. TAKING A SIP HE DOESN'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH ANY OF HIS FELLOW DRINKERS. BUT AFTER A FEW MOMENTS HE REALIZES THAT HE'S THE ONLY ONE SIPPING ,HE LOOKS UP TO SEE THEIR EYES UPON HIM . HE LIFTS HIS HEAD LICKING HIS LIPS AND SAYS "I AM THE LAST KING AND WISH PEACE TO OUR WILD KINGDOM. I'VE SEEN A GREAT DISEASE DESTROY THE PRIDE OF THIS AND MANY OTHER LANDS, I CHASED IT DOWN TRYING TO FIND REASON FOR IT'S TEARANY UPON MY KIND. ALL I FOUND WAS DEATH AND LONELINESS. MY DEATH IS THE DEATH OF MY GLORIOUS RACE AND THE END OF MY REIGN WILL NOT DRAW BLOOD...... WELL NOT BY MY CLAWS THAT I PROMISE. I AM AT THE WILL OF YOUR MERCY AND MY AND MY KINDS FATE HAS BEEN SEALED, I WISH FOR NO MORE VIOLENCE I'VE SEEN TOO MUCH ALREADY............." HE IS THEN INTERRUPTED BY A PACK OF LAUGHING DOGS FROM BEHIND HIM, BUT BEFORE HE COULD TURN ABOUT THE ANIMALS OF THE WATER HOLE SURROUND HIM...IN DEFENCE AND CHASED THE PACK AWAY. WHEN THEY TURNED THEIR ATTENTION BACK TO THE TOOTHLESS LION HE WAS LYING IN THE MUD PANTING. IT WAS APPARENT THAT THE STRAIN OF THE PAST 12 MOONS HAD TAKEN THE LIFE OUT OF HIM AND THAT LITTLE BIT OF RESPECT SHOWN WAS ENOUGH LOVE FOR HIM. HE DIDN'T NEED A MATE OR CUBS THE ANIMALS OF THE KINGDOM WERE HIS CHILDREN, AND A MOMENT LATER AS HE BEGAN TO EXPIRE THE BABOON STARTED DIGGING AND THE ELEPHANT S COLLECTED ROCKS......... AND THAT DAY THEY BURIED THEIR KING. THE KING OF ALL KINGS.