"Is that you, Sa.s.sie?"

"Please come out. If you love me, come out."

"In a minute."

"Not in a minute! Right now! "

The sounds of breathing quickened again. There were some sounds of movement. Then silence. After a moment, Mufasa looked at Sarabi. "I didn't think he'd do it. Either he's very brave or very stupid."

"He's not stupid, " Sarabi said firmly. "If you hadn't called him stupid, he wouldn't be down there! Just because he's smaller than you are doesn't mean he's stupid." She called out more loudly. "Please come out! You're scaring me! "

Just then there was a loud, menacing growl and a cub's shriek of agony. "I'm going! Oh G.o.ds! Let me go! Let me go, you're hurting me! " They could hear Taka trying to back out.

m.u.f.fy started digging furiously. "Taka!! " Dust flew from his paws, and he managed to work his head in. "Hold on: I can see your tail! Come back a little more. Give me a few more inches! "

Mufasa grabbed at the tail and pulled with all his might. Sarabi grabbed m.u.f.fy's tail, and trying not to hurt him too much gave a yank. Taka came stumbling out of the hole backward, his face covered in blood, and one of his eyes protruding from its socket. The white badger came out after him, but saw the other two cubs raise the fur on their backs and snarl. Thinking twice about its options, it reluctantly went back in its hole. Taka laid on the ground shivering. "Oh G.o.ds! It hurts! Somebody help me! I want my momma! "

Mufasa stared at the unseeing eye in a pool of blood. It took a moment for him to tear himself away from the horror and move. "I'll get Mom--no, I'd better get Makedde." He started off, then stopped. "No, he'd have to come back here. Can you walk, Taka?"

Taka struggled off the ground and began to limp. Blood dripped down his face and onto the gra.s.s. "I'll try. Is it very far?"

"No. Just follow me."

SCENE: THE PROPHESY.

"Three things there are which cannot be called back. The spilled wine, the sped arrow, and the spoken word."

-- MENELAEUS OF NAXOS.

It was a long trek to Makedde's home in the baobab tree. In the hot sun, the blood began to cake in Taka's fur, and flies mercilessly swarmed around him. His gait was unsteady, and try though he did, his bravery could only stretch so far.

"How much further is it?"

"Just a little more, " Mufasa said.

"That's what you said the last time." Taka began panting uncontrollably. "It hurts. Do you think he'll have something for the pain?"

"He has stuff for everything, " Sarabi said. "Don't worry, Taka. Everything will be all right."

"How much further is it?"

Sarabi got ahead of him and looked into his face. His good eye did not seem to focus. She realized he was following the sound of m.u.f.fy's feet. "You must keep going, " Sarabi said. "Do it for me."

Loss of blood and the pain was sending Taka into shock, and he was getting weak in the limbs. "Sa.s.sie, I don't think I can make it."

"You can make it, " she said, leaning into him. "Taka, did you hear the one about the two wildebeests and the zebra?"

"No."

"Well there was these two wildebeests, and one said to the other, *I bet I can get that zebra to laugh before you can. So he went to the zebra and said, *Watch this! ' He stood on his head and stuck out his tongue. But the zebra didn't laugh. So you know what the other wildebeest did?"

"What wildebeest? I don't see any." He stumbled and lay still in the gra.s.s.

"Get up, Taka! Come on, you got to keep going! "

She nudged his flank with her nose, prodded him with her paws, and even tugged on his ear. "Get up! "

"I can't."

"You have to! " She nipped his leg.

"Ow! " He looked directly at her.

"Get up or I'll nip you again."

m.u.f.fy put his snout under Taka and pushed. With a little help from his brother, Taka stood again and began to stumble along. "I can see it from here. Oh thank G.o.d."

Makedde, the sage Mandrill Baboon, was teaching his younger brother Rafiki how to divine the future with a bowl of water. This technique, called scrying, is the best way to tell the future. For water, they say, has risen higher than birds fly and it returns to Earth charged with the energy of the G.o.ds. This is so, for any lion sees the new green in the gra.s.s after a rain.

Makedde dropped his work at once when he saw the blood spattered cub and his two friends. "Rafiki, mix a poultice quick! " He looked at Taka's eye closely. "Oh Master Taka, what have you done now! "

Makedde held up his hand on one side of Taka's head, then the other. "No sight on that side. This is bad. Very bad. But perhaps I can fix it."

Makedde got some moistened Alba from Rafiki and squeezed it on the ground. The dust became mud, and he took this mud carefully in his hand.

"These are badger marks, " Makedde said. "If I couldn't see it, I could sure smell it." He shook his head. "What on earth possessed you to play with the badgers? You know they are dangerous."

"It was a white badger, " Taka said. "I wanted to get a wish, like N'ga and Sufa."

"Oh I see." He frowned. "You don't know the difference between a white lioness and a white badger! So you wanted a wish, did you?"

"It was my idea, " Mufasa said. "When we died, I wanted my brother to sit by me with the great kings of the past."

Makedde sighed. "n.o.ble sentiment indeed. But all living things are precious to Aiheu. He gathers them all to himself and sits them where he will, not according to bravery or strength of body, but by the immortal Ka." He washed his hands in a basin. "If your Ka is full of love and wisdom, it does not matter if you are smaller than your brother." He patted Taka. "Courage, little one." Taka gnashed his teeth. His good eye closed tightly and his ears went back.

Makedde was gentle with the lion cub. The cool mud surrounded Taka's damaged eye, not hurting as badly as he thought it would. Then with a press of his paw, Makedde popped the still-intact eye back into its socket. With infinite care, Makedde took water from a gourd dipper and washed away the mud a few grains at a time. "Don't squint. It makes my job harder."

When all the blood was washed away, and the eye was clear, Makedde got a twig of Dwe'dwe and broke it in half. A single drop of resin came out, and Makedde skillfully ran it the length of Taka's cut, pressing the sides of the wound together carefully with his fingers. He blew on it a few times to make sure the wound would stay closed.

Rafiki brought a gourd of water for Taka. Makedde added some herbs for building blood, relieving pain, and a small pinch of Tiko Root for good measure to prevent infection. Finally he added some honey. "It won't taste good, but it will feel good."

Taka found the mixture bearable, but he was terribly thirsty after losing so much blood in the heat. And it did feel good.

It seemed like an eternity to Sarabi before Makedde was finished. She worked up the courage to ask, "Will that eye work again?"

"Rafiki, " Makedde asked, "You heard the lady. What will come of Taka?"

Rafiki was nervous. It was his first time to scry for another. So he looked into the water thoughtfully, trying to remember all his brother taught him. A wind came out of the west and stirred the water. It carried with it the odor of decay. The ripples died down, and he gasped. "Wait, something appears. It tells me...."

"What?" Sarabi asked impatiently.

Rafiki stared into the water as one possessed. His voice deepened and was labored. "The road is long and hard. Those who smile to your face bare their teeth as you leave." He left the bowl and stooped in front of Taka. Pointing his finger accusingly, he said, "Friends come from unlikely places, then abandon you in your hour of need. He who is first to touch you shall beget your doom, and she who gives you love shall let it turn to hate."

"Rafiki! " Makedde shouted. "Control it! It's an evil spirit! "

"Anger is your only salvation, " Rafiki muttered, gripping Taka by the fur of his cheek. "Arm yourself with cruel hate. Take what is yours, for it shall not be freely given."

Taka broke away and tried to hide behind Sarabi and Mufasa, crouching low and trembling. "No! It's not so! Tell me it's not so! "

"Stop it! " Makedde shook him violently. "Stop it in the name of the G.o.ds! "

Rafiki looked wild-eyed as if he'd seen a ghost. It took him a few moments to come to himself. "Brother? What happened to me? I could not control myself. I was a stick, and some hand was swinging me! "

Mufasa was horrified. "Is this going to happen for sure? Can't we stop it?"

Rafiki went behind m.u.f.fy and Sa.s.sie to look at the cringing Taka. "Don't be afraid, my son." He stroked the trembling child. "Oh G.o.ds, that was not me speaking. That was not me. I love you. I would never say such things. You must love, always love, the way I love you. Forgive me. Please forgive me." He wept.

"My brother did not know what he was saying, " Makedde said sternly. "He did not control the watera"the water controlled him. Smell the reek of death in the air? Evil spirits often come to speak, and they use a half-truth to bring mischief into the world. When I can see you alone, Taka, I'll tell your future and I will do it right."

Taka started to cry. "Do they really hate me?"

"No, Taka, " Mufasa said firmly. Then he looked a little embarra.s.sed. "We all love you, even if you do get in trouble all the time."

"But what if it's right?" Sarabi asked. "I mean if its a half-truth, doesn't that mean half of it is true?"

"None of it's true, " Mufasa said. He went to his brother and draped his paw over Taka's shoulder. "There--I'm the first one to touch you. I'm your bestest friend in the world, so you don't have to worry any more."

"And I'm the one that loves you most, " Sarabi said aloud, not caring who heard it for once. "When we grow up, I'm going to marry you." Without thinking, she touched Taka's face with her warm tongue. The taste of blood reminded her of her mistake. "Oh Taka, are you all right?"

Taka stared at her, then tilted his head. He smiled. "I can see you! I can see you with both eyes! " He nuzzled her affectionately. "You would never hurt me, would you, Sa.s.sie?"

"Never! Not in a million years."

Taka gave her a weak lick. "We will always be together, I promise. You did mean it--about marrying me--didn't you?"

"Yes, Taka. That was going to be my wish."

He smiled. "I just know I'm going to catch it when I get home, but it was worth it. Really. Will you walk home with me?"

"Of course I will, " Sarabi said.

"Dad won't spank you, " Mufasa said. "You don't spank someone when they're hurt. You know, you REALLY should have come out when I told you to. Maybe you'll listen next time."

"Yeah." He looked at Mufasa closely. "Does it show? Do you think Mom will notice?"

m.u.f.fy looked at him carefully as if he were trying to make up his mind, but it was no contest. "She'll notice all right. I think it's going to leave a scar."

The three cubs bounded off as quickly as Taka could keep up. After they were quite a way from the Baobab, Rafiki said, "Brother, I'm quite sure of what I saw. I don't know why I said it, but I knew it was so."

"I know, " Makedde said. "But sometimes it is in the telling that things come true. You did not pray for guidance first--you left yourself unprotected. Evil spirits just wait for chances like this. They speak their piece, filling innocent little heads with foul thoughts to stir up trouble. Sometimes silence is the wisest prophesy of all."

Rafiki hung his head. "I am so ashamed. Can't I undo it, brother? Is there nothing I can do?"

Makedde went back to the scrying pool. He looked deeply into the water. For a long time he saw nothing, because his head was too full of worries. Then there was a gentle breeze from the east and on the wind was wafted the comforting scent of wild honey. The wind stirred the surface of the water, and after it had pa.s.sed, the power of a blessed spirit had dispelled the shadows.

Makedde stared like one in a trance. "Rafiki, if you would hear the words of Aiheu, pay attention. For a little truth is like a little branch that will not reach to the choice fruit."

The young mandrill fell on his face. "Speak, Lord."

"The evil which you have set free, you must also bind. All the years of your life shall you toil to undo a careless moment. Milk and mud join quickly, but do they separate quickly? Your words have made the milk unfit to drink, yet I have not forsaken you. For if milk and mud are my creations, I can appoint whom I please to separate them, and it will be done."

SCENE: THE TOKEN.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to hide a fight from parents with a hunter's instincts and an excellent sense of smell. Taka saw the pain in his mother's eyes as he described the incident in the badger hole to her, and felt mixed sadness and gladness. It was a strange kind of gladness that warms the heart when tears and sympathy spring from love. She pulled him to her side and began to nuzzle him and kiss him.

His father Ahadi left early without much to say. Secretly, Taka had hoped he'd feel a little guilty for making m.u.f.fy his heir, and reconsider whom is the bravest of the two. Instead, all Ahadi did was say, "I'll be back."

Akase kept the wound clean with her tongue, but even so it began to be stiff and throb with each beat of his heart. Taka began to moan as the pain made each movement painful. He wanted to rest, but he could not sleep but the most fitful of naps.

"How long is this going to hurt?"

"I don't know, son." Akase began to lick the wound again tenderly. "I'll see if Makedde has something for the pain."

"I can't stand it anymore, " Taka said. "Please see what he has. My whole face is burning. I have a headache."

"I don't know where Zazu went. I'll have to send your father as soon as he comes back."

"Where has he gone?"

"I don't know, but I have my suspicions."

"I hope he comes back soon. Real soon."

"So do I." He closed his eyes and tried to sleep again.

Sarabi came by. "How is he?"