tale 14 lord of the forest and king of the grassland Written by Rainer: rainer.lehrer@yahoo.com Learn languages (via Skype): Rainer: + 36 20 549 52 97 or + 36 20 334 79 74

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The lord of the forest and the king of the grassland The schoolteacher, which means the owl, told the young animals in class, “Today, my dears, we will learn something about history.” The young animals were very excited. The monkey, like always being one of the loudest, “I hope we will learn about the kingdom of bananas. My father, the grand gorilla, told me about one of his ancestors having been the lord of the forest.” But then, the lion screamed out, “one of my ancestors was the greatest king. All the animals of the grasslands called him their lord.” The antelope quietly said to the parrot, “my grandmother told me that that lion king was horrible. Everybody was afraid of him, but nobody really liked him.” And the squirrel talked to the hedgehog, “my grandfather said that the gorilla had always stolen food from all the other animals.” “Be quiet, you all!” screamed the owl, “otherwise you will not hear what I tell you.” So, the young animals became silent and the old owl could begin the history lesson. “Once upon a time, there were two big realms; one was the empire of the grasslands with the lion as king and the other the kingdom of the forest with the big gorilla as banana lord.” The little monkey on one side of the classroom took a big breath and sat straighter, so that his head towered above all the others around him. The small lion on the other side got on his back feet, so that those on this side had to look up at him. “Both these realms had lived peacefully beside each other for a long time, none disturbed the other, as different kind of animals were living in both domains,” the owl continued. The little bear, who like always had fallen asleep, fell of his seat causing some confusion amongst the snake, tiger, beaver and rabbit around him. The aged owl waited for some seconds for the calm being restored and then continued her speech, “however one day, the lion king had slept badly because of toothache and the gorilla lord had diarrhoea because of some rotten fruit, he had eaten. So, both were in a pretty bad mood when they arrived at the fountain which came running down the mountain at the edge of the forest and the grassland.” The young animals made long faces as if they felt the same in their mouth and stomach and the owl continued her tale: “Let me drink first, I am the king!” said the lion. “But I’m the lord of the forest and must have water first,” replied the monkey. Both pressed their big heads towards the small trickle of water coming out of the rock, but none could even get a drop, only their cheeks pushed the other away and their tongues licked each other. Someone watching the scene could have thought they were tongue kissing. Nevertheless, their growling revealed that they were getting angrier and angrier. Both were equally strong, so none could push the other away and get some of the refreshing liquid. After some pulling and pressing, they got up and looked deeply into each other’s eyes while their noses touched. With gnashing teeth the lion mumbled, “if you want war, you will have it.” “Alright,” snarled the gorilla back, “you want it, you will get it.” The next day, both opponents assembled their supporters and servants and at the edge of the forest not far from the fountain, the two armies appeared. On one side, the army of the grasslands, the lion, the elephant, the buffalo and the rhinoceros, on the other side, the army of the forest, the gorilla, the bear, the giant boa snake, the tiger and the eagle. The lion lifted his paw and everybody got silent to listen, “today, we are all here to decide for good, who the greater king is. My loyal soldiers, this is a historical moment!” Then, the gorilla stepped forward, “Everybody knows that I’m the lord. Let the greatest battle in history decide my right!” Both, the lion and the gorilla stepped back to make space for their soldiers, “Go!” they shouted. The buffalo advanced towards the bear and the bear grabbed the horns of the buffalo, the tiger jumped onto the back of the rhinoceros, the boa snake tried to tie the legs of the elephant while the eagle chopped with its sharp beak into the neck of the elephant. It was a terrible fight, groaning and shouting could be heard, but nearly nothing could be seen as the two armies threw up too much dust. In the meantime, the lion and the gorilla were standing side by side a bit away from the battle excitedly watching the development of events. After some time, all the fighting animals lay tired on the ground covered with sweat and dust. Then, the lion and the gorilla went closer and observed the combatants. “I’ve won,” exclaimed the lion. “No, I’m the winner,” the gorilla cried out. The elephant, the buffalo, the rhinoceros, the bear, the boa snake, the tiger and the eagle lifted their eyes up at the clean and tidy fur of the two lords, then they looked at each other in their dusty and sad condition. The boa snake was the first to say a word, “Hey, lion and gorilla! Haven’t you fought? Have you been standing there watching us getting dusty and dirty?” “Of course,” answered the lion and gorilla slowly and stammering, “look! We are king and lord, aren’t we?” Those animals lying in the dust began to look at each other and tardily recognized they had fought and sweated for others and not for themselves. So, they got up, helped each other to clean their fur and skin, apologized, smiled at each other and went home. This was the end of those big realms and never again an animal should be so stupid to fight for a king or lord again. Continue with tale 15!

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