Cactapopo
Jungle
Mwangi Muchiri
Cactapopo Jungle
Published Queenex Publishers Ltd
P.O. Box 56049-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
Phone: 0727 794 498, 0715 808 200
Email: info@queenexpublishers.co.ke
queenexbooks@gmail.com
Web: www.queenexpublishers.co.ke
© Mwangi Muchiri, 2022
All rights reserved. Do not reproduce, store in a
retrieval system, transmit in any means: graphic,
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or
otherwise any part and or this entire book without
the prior written permission of Queenex Publishers
Limited.
ISBN: 978-9966-142-03-0
iii
About the Book
The book is one among a set of several books aimed
at strengthening the social pillar of the continent of
Africa and the world at large by educating young
citizens about important personal and national
values that strengthen the society’s social ber by
way of illustrative stories. It is designed to help train
Preparatory, Upper Primary and Middle School
(Lower Secondary) students on leadership and
character development.
The book presents the learner with an
understanding of global concepts such as the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) as well as democratic ideals.
The book also furnishes the learner with an
applied knowledge of economics concepts such as
resource allocation, economic growth, value addition
and international trade.
To enhance the assimilation of the principles
contained in the book, the author has developed
a student workbook that forms the foundation
of an intense certied leadership and personal
iv
development training experience as well as a
facilitator’s guide. The leadership experience achieves
heightened levels of effectiveness when the mode
of instruction is through group discussion forums
where the teacher, parent or mentor serves as a
facilitator. This is a personal branding experience
second to none.
In developing the book and the complementary
student workbook and facilitator’s guide, the author
envisions the child/learner to be a raw gem that
requires meticulous polishing and branding - a
masterpiece requiring great nurture and care to
bring out the best in them.
v
From the Author
For too long, Africa has lagged behind where
sound leadership is concerned. Poor leadership is
responsible for the negative image portrayed of our
continent by foreign media. To a big extent, Africa
has earned the negative tag line. The high incidents of
inter-ethnic skirmishes, civil war, massive corruption,
unstable governments, human rights violations, food
insecurity, unsustainable use and plunder of natural
resources, rising unemployment and numerous other
social ills are real incidents happening in many spots
on the continent. Yet within Africa lies potential for
leadership development greater than in any other
continent. Our traditional values are relatively intact
but harnessing our values and translating them to
formidable principles in the minds, hearts and lives
of our people remains a big challenge.
Leadership should not be a preserve of a select
few. Personal leadership is a skill that must be
engrained in all our people. It is time to invest in
every citizen, qualities of a great leader because
once we transform our human resource into
credible people of solid repute and character, our
vi
governments, corporate world and individual lives
will begin to reect a new determination to rise out
of the doldrums and step into a new podium of a
renewed continent striving for growth, productivity
and economic prosperity. We cannot have a better
country or continent unless we invest in our people;
equipping them with a vibrant zeal to create a
better world for themselves and posterity. This is
an initiative that must be embraced by all who care
about the welfare of our nation and continent.
When Louis XVI of France had been taken
from his throne and imprisoned, his captors took
the king’s young son, to a community far away,
and there they exposed the young prince to every
lthy and despicable thing that life could offer.
They exposed him to delicious foods to make him
a slave to appetite. They used foul language around
him constantly and exposed him to pornographic
material. He was surrounded 24 hours a day by
morally degrading activities. They thought that
inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the throne,
if they could destroy him morally, he would never
realise the great destiny that life had bestowed upon
him.
For over six months he had this treatment but not
once did the young prince cave in under pressure.
Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned
him on why he had not submitted himself to these
vii
things which would have provided pleasure and
satised his innate desires.
The boy said, “I cannot do what you ask, for I
was born to be a king.”
By investing in our young citizens leadership
and character development tools, we equip them
with a mechanism to do the right thing even if no
one else does it not because they think it will change
the world but because they refuse to be changed by
the world.
Mwangi Muchiri
viii
To Sarah Tehilla my beloved daughter and a
new Generation of Youngsters struggling to nd
themselves in the perilous jungle we call life.
1
Chapter 1
It was a cold chilly evening and all the animals
in Cactapopo Jungle were trembling with fear and
whispering to each other. King Lion had called for
a meeting. He gazed at each animal in the eye and
sent shivers down their spine.
“I have summoned you here because some
strange news has reached my royal ears. It has
come to my distinguished attention that some of
you are planning a coup to overthrow me. I have
been informed by reliable sources that some lthy
scumbags are planning to dethrone me. Let it be
known to all you miserable dimwits that I am the
king and I will rule forever!” roared the king of the
jungle.
“You will rule forever mighty king!” shouted
the hyena as he bowed his head. “The dirty animals
must be exterminated!”
“Nobody will be put to death!” thundered the
elephant. “We have had enough deaths in the past!”
The lion looked at the elephant angrily and
roared in anger. “How dare you make the rules?”
Then he turned to the hyena and called out. “Hyena!”
2
The lion looked at the elephant angrily...
3
“Yes, my king.”
“Can you deal with the elephant at once!”
The hyena looked at the elephant and decided
that one quick bite on the leg would be enough to
subdue him. He made a quick move and jumped
on to huge elephant who calmly lifted his long
muscular trunk and gave the hyena a resounding
blow on the head. The hyena fell like a heavy log
and limped away painfully.
“It is time to change the laws and the constitution,”
said the elephant calmly. The other animals clapped
their hands happily. “We do not even have credible
laws. Our only law is that lion will rule forever.
This is totally unfair. We must have laws that will
be acceptable to most of us. We need laws that will
advance the cause of the jungle and improve the
welfare of the animals. With all due respect, the king
has been a very selsh leader. Selsh leaders make
bad laws that benet only themselves. We need laws
that will make our jungle a better place. Without
good laws, we cannot have good governance, justice
and strong institutions.”
“I think we need a new king,” shouted monkey
as he climbed the nearest tree. “We are tired of poor
leadership. Life on land has become unbearable. Your
poor leadership has made us all poor and some of
our friends have died of hunger.”
4
“I agree,” said the hornbill as he ew and sat on
elephant’s raised trunk. “We need a king who will
bring economic development to the jungle. For the
last few years, the jungle’s economy has not grown
at all.”
“I agree,” said the parrot. “We need a king who
will bring progress to the jungle.”
The lion opened his mouth wide in complete
amazement. How could this be happening under
his royal nose? The other animals seemed to be
enjoying themselves. He needed to do something,
but the presence of the elephant made it difcult to
deal with the animals. He needed time to plan on
how to dispense with the elephant.
“I declare this meeting closed!” roared King Lion.
“I will summon you again very soon!”
“We are going nowhere!” said the hippopotamus
who had walked in a while back. “I cannot travel
all this way from Lake Kiletu just to be sent home
without a proper meeting. We need to know the way
forward. I must also say that we are sick and tired
of poor leadership. I do not think that we can call
what we have in our jungle leadership. Although I
live in water, I am affected by the many bodies of
animals I see being thrown into the lake. I do not
support the assassination of innocent animals. This
is not leadership! If it looks like a duck, walks like a
pig, barks like a dog and smells like a skunk, then
5
it’s very uncertain what animal it is. That is the state
of leadership in this jungle!”
“Get him!” roared King Lion to the hyena.
The hyena looked at the hippo and shook his
head. “I am feeling a bit unwell.”
Everything was beginning to change. He realised
that the animals had ganged up against him. But he
had one more friend. The snake could not let him
down.
“Give that slimy hippo a dose of venom and
teach him a lesson!” King Lion ordered the snake.
The snake lifted his head and moved toward the
hippopotamus. Before he could get close enough to
sink his teeth into the huge animal, the porcupine
shot some sharp quills at the snake and hit the eye,
tail and body.
The snake took off hissing in great pain as the
other animals cheered loudly. They soon began to
shout; “We want a new king! We want a new king!
We want a new king!”
“Why?” asked King Lion. “Have I not always
protected you from being harmed by humans? Have
I not ensured that there is peace in the jungle?”
“How many of my little ones have you eaten?”
asked lady gazelle after requesting the animals to
quiet down and listen to her. “You have caused
more harm to me than the humans. My heart has
known no peace each morning when you eat one of
6
my young ones. If your only achievement is peace
and protection, I am dying to have you removed!
Nothing that you do can erase the harm that you
have caused!”
“And you do not listen to us at all,” croaked
the frog. “There is lots of inequality in our jungle,
where meat eaters treat others like their life is not
important. Animals who live in water are completely
ignored. We want equal treatment in the jungle. We
are not slaves!”
“You do not have any development record or a
manifesto detailing what you intend to do for us
in the future,” buzzed the bee.
“You are only there to gratify your own bodily
appetites,” chirped the sparrow.
“Preying on other animals is totally unacceptable!”
trumpeted the elephant. “Enough of you! We want
another king now! We want a king who treats all
genders with dignity and respect!”
“Allow me to speak,” said the eagle. “King Lion
lacks vision and wisdom. He does not have the
qualities of a good leader. What this jungle needs
is better leadership and freedom. The king has no
principles and is governed by his big appetite for
little things. If we could give him wings to y, he
would y no higher than his belly. We have had
enough of this king!”
7
King Lion opened his mouth to talk but no words
came out. The animals were too numerous for him,
and they were very bold and united. It was true that
he had become proud and very greedy. Each day, he
gobbled a gazelle calf all by himself. Animals feared
him, and they never complained. He wondered
what had changed. Elephant must have plotted to
overthrow him so as to become the next king. There
was need to nip this plan in the bud.
“I know who has planned this rebellion and I
will deal with him myself. You will know that I shall
reign as king forever.”
King Lion then pounced on elephant and tried to
wrestle him to the ground. However, elephant was
too strong to be thrown down. He tossed King Lion
high into the air. The king cried out for mercy as he
came crashing to the ground with a loud thud. He
broke a leg and groaned in agony.
He limped on three legs and requested for help,
but no animal cared.
“I have resigned as your king,” he said. “I have
been a bad king, but I hope that you will not kill me.”
“We will not kill you,” said elephant. “You
have been hurt because you tried to hurt me. As the
proverb goes, you reap what you sow.”
“I know that you want to be the new king, but
please let me be your assistant,” requested King Lion.
8
“I do not want to be the new king,” replied
elephant. “I am an elder and a teacher. I will continue
to educate the animals on what is good. A teacher
inuences the minds of future generations and
determines the culture of the jungle.”
“Who then should be king?” asked lion
expectantly.
“Let the animals decide,” said the elephant.
“Let the animals decide,” repeated the parrot.
“Not again!” shouted monkey to parrot. “When
will you ever say something original.”
“Your face is not original,” said parrot and some
animals burst out laughing.
“This is not the time for little jokes and small
talk!” trumpeted elephant. “We have a big problem
to take care of. We want better leadership in the
jungle. We are demanding to have a better king!”
“I will be the king,” boasted the peacock as he
displayed his beautiful feathers for all to see. “Have
you ever seen such beauty in all creation? All the
jungle needs is a good looking king.”
“Nonsense!” shouted the snake. “I am more
beautiful. Your feathers can be plucked but my
beautiful skin is permanent. I will make a better
king.”
“Never!” shouted the chameleon. “I am the most
beautiful thing on earth because I can even change
my skin colour to reect the colours of the rainbow.”
9
He then changed himself to look like the rainbow.
“Enough of this nonsense!” shouted the tortoise.
“Beauty alone is not enough to make a king. You
can have beautiful feathers and ugly feet.”
The animals laughed and cheered wildly.
“Very true,” shouted the snake. “We don’t want
ugly feet.”
“You can also have a beautiful skin but a shallow
mindset,” continued the tortoise. “A leader must
have some qualities that will help others enjoy their
lives and to grow in a safe jungle. A king should
be caring about other animals and should bring
development to this jungle. Other animals should
benet from the visionary leadership of a king. I
dare say that a leader must have a plan on how to
achieve improved standards of living for jungle
animals. We want development in our jungle.”
“Very true,” agreed the hyena. “Development is
what we need. I will bring great changes into your
lives if you choose me as your new king.”
“Rubbish!” shouted the zebra. “This is not the
time to advertise yourself. You are only interested
in personal gain.”
“I will straighten you out,” said the hyena as he
moved towards the zebra.
“We will not accept any misbehaviour in the
jungle,” said the rhino rmly. “Dare you take one
more step and I will deal with you myself.”
10
“Rhino should be king,” said the gazelle.
“He cannot be a good leader. He has a very bad
temper,” said the lion angrily. “Why can’t you be
king instead?”
“I cannot be a king,” said the gazelle. “I feel very
inadequate because I was not born with leadership
capabilities.”
“What a loser,” laughed the snake as he twisted
his body into the shape of letter L.
“This is getting us nowhere,” said the giraffe. “I
have had enough for today. Why can’t we come up
with some laws and a constitution? These laws will
guide us on how to choose our king. They will help
us resolve critical issues in the jungle. We must have
a king who will lead us into greater heights of jungle
achievement so that there will be an improvement
in our standards of living. For now, I think that we
should form a committee that will come up with the
new constitution. The lion can continue to be king
so that we do not create a leadership vacuum.”
“What is a committee?” asked the snail. “I once
heard some humans saying that a camel is a horse
made by a committee. Is that true?”
“You are such a slow learner,” said the porcupine.
“Stop bringing human stupidity here.”
“Hey hey hey!” shouted the elephant. “We are
well-mannered animals. We cannot use abusive
language against a fellow animal. Please apologise
11
to the snail for calling him a slow learner and for
implying that he is stupid.”
“I will not apologise,” said the porcupine. “There
is freedom of speech in the jungle.”
“You will apologise,” roared King Lion. “Giraffe
has said some very wise words. I will remain the
king until we set the laws. One of the rules will be
on how to deal with porcupine. He is very hard to
deal with because of his spikes.”
“The king is right!” shouted the hyena.
“No, he is not,” said the wasp as he gave the
porcupine a very big sting on his nose. The other
animals clapped happily.
“I am very sorry for calling the snail a slow
learner,” cried the porcupine. “I have learnt my
lesson well.”
“This is the funniest thing that has ever happened
in this jungle,” laughed the peacock. “The ugly
porcupine has nally apologised.”
“That’s not even funny,” hissed the snake. “You
need to muzzle your ugly beak.”
Just then, the rabbit came running into the
meeting.
“What brings you here?” roared the lion. “Have
you come to spy on us?”
“No,” replied the rabbit. “I have decided to join
my fellow animals. I will not continue to enjoy the
nice warm blanket in my little house and the nice
12
food humans give me, yet my fellow animals are
sleeping hungry or being rained on. I want to help
you build nice houses for all animals. No animal
should sleep hungry or sleep outside.”
“Ha ha ha,” laughed King Lion. “You are such
a big dreamer, little animal. Go back to where you
came from. The animals here are not interested in
houses.”
“I think I need a small house,” said the parrot. “I
need to lock up my eggs to prevent the snake from
stealing them.”
“I also need a small house,” screamed the fox.
“I don’t like it when the rain makes my fur wet.”
“That’s enough,” said King Lion. “Rabbit can
help us build small houses for small animals.”
“I also need a house,” said the buffalo. “Sometimes
the sun is so hot, and I need some shade.”
“Enough!” roared King Lion. “Let us now form
the group of animals that will set the new jungle
rules.”
13
Chapter Review Questions
1. What poor character traits does King Lion portray?
2. What poor character traits does hyena portray?
3. What good character traits does elephant portray?
4. How would you describe the laws of the jungle
(Constitution)?
5. Why have the animals succeeded in confronting
the king with the bitter truth about his poor
leadership and also resisting his attempts to
intimidate them?
6. What are the qualities that a good national leader
needs to have according to the tortoise?
14
Chapter 2
The animals formed a committee of respected
animals also called the electoral commission.
The committee was tasked with coming up with
modalities of electing a new king. The animals in
the group were giraffe, zebra, antelope, buttery,
tortoise, amingo and hippo. Giraffe was made the
leader of the group.
King Lion then dismissed the animals and told
them to come back to the meeting ground after one
week so that they could elect their new king.
Meanwhile, the committee came up with a list
of qualities that would form the basis of electing
their next king.
They decided that the next king must be:
1. Humble – should relate well with all animals
2. Honest and full of integrity – should tell the
truth at all times
3. Compassionate towards other animals –
values others and should be willing to help
in any way possible
4. Intelligent and judicious – makes decisions
that show good judgement
15
5. Morally upright/good mannered
• does not steal community property
• does not give or receive a bribe
• should have a good name and
reputation in the jungle
6. Patriotic – puts the interest of the jungle
before self-interest.
7. One that has a manifesto – written plans for
the future.
They also made a law that an animal could only
be king for a ve-year term after which the animals
would conduct a new election. The other law that
they made was that there could only be one king at
a time. After this, they requested the animals who
wanted to be king to appear before the committee.
The snake came rst. He was disqualied because
the committee pointed out that his language was
abusive, and he was not compassionate towards
others. He had a poisonous tongue and could not
be a good leader.
The peacock came second. He showed off his
feathers proudly and announced that he would
make the best king. The committee disqualied
him because he was too proud, narrow minded and
lacked humility.
The hyena came third and was disqualied
because he was too greedy and lacked integrity.
16
The lion tried to appear before the committee,
but they told him that according to the new rules,
he was not eligible to become king again. Other
animals needed to be given a chance to rule.
Out of all the animals who wanted to be king
only the rabbit, monkey and the brown ant were
deemed to possess the right qualities.
The brown ant was able to prove that he was
very hardworking and wise because he worked all
day and stored food for the future.
Monkey was able to prove that he was very
educated and was willing to teach animals how to
read like humans. He had very detailed manifesto
on how he planned to bring electricity and piped
water to the jungle.
Rabbit proved that he was humble and related
well with other animals. He had also gained much
wisdom from watching how humans lived. He
proved that he loved the jungle so much that he
was willing to sacrice all the things that he enjoyed
in the human country like a nice heated cage, tap
water and an abundant supply of food so that he
could live in the jungle.
When King Lion failed to call the animals for a
meeting after one week, the elephant blew a trumpet
and told the animals to meet at the usual assembly
ground. Giraffe then announced that three animals
had been nominated by the committee as having
17
desirable characteristics of a leader.
King Lion tried to disrupt the meeting by roaring
loudly and proclaiming that he would eat up all
the small animals, but the rhino and buffalo chased
him away.
The three animals that had been nominated by
the committee were then given one week to conduct
public campaigns and convince the animals why
they should be voted in as king.
The rabbit requested to be given a security team.
He was given a wasp and a buffalo. The ant and
monkey said that they did not need security.
The rabbit travelled across the jungle trying
to convince other animals that he would provide
clean water, build houses and bring security by
making rules that would prevent carnivores like
the lion, cheetah, leopard, snake, eagle and hyena
from preying on other animals.
“No animal will ever eat another animal again
if you make me king,” said rabbit. “Leadership is
not a chance to benet yourself but to serve others.”
Huge crowds came to listen to rabbit speak.
“I could be living in a nice little cage with enough
food and water to satisfy me, but I chose to come
here to live with fellow animals. Do you know why?”
“No!” shouted the animals.
18
“No animal will ever eat another animal again...”
19
“Because I have a desire to bring change to the
jungle,” said rabbit. “When was the last time that
you had a conversation with King Lion?”
“We are not even supposed to have such a
thought,” said gazelle. “He only talks to us when
he wants to eat our young ones.”
“This must end!” shouted rabbit. “A leader is a
servant of all. I am not any better than any of you. I
just want to make sure that life becomes better for
animals who have been living in fear and pain. No
more fear! I will replace fear with freedom. I will
replace hunger with full stomachs. I will replace
poverty with wealth. The greatest wealth lies in
each one of us. I will make sure that each animal
has the right opportunity and freedom to develop
their potential to the full. I will pull down the lies
that you have been made to believe. Leadership has
nothing to do with physical appearance. I may be
small, but I have very big plans for us.”
Rabbit paused and looked at each animal in the
eye.
“Are you all listening?”
“Yes!” shouted the animals in unison.
“It is far much better to have a small king with a
big plan than to have a big king with a small plan.”
There was prolonged clapping and cheering
from the animals. As more animals in the jungle
came to hear rabbit speak, he decided to climb on
20
the back of rhino.
“Can I climb on your back,” he asked rhino.
“Go ahead,” rhino said. “You have my vote.”
“Mine too,” said parrot.
“Your vote is your secret tool,” emphasized
rabbit. “Use it to uproot bad leadership from our
jungle, but please please, please, listen to me. This
is very important. Do not tell anyone who you will
vote for. Let it remain a secret.”
“I want to thank rhino for allowing me to use his
back as my platform. He has the heart of a servant.
He is a servant leader because he is strong to serve.
This is why I came to the jungle. I came to serve and
to sweep away the stench of poor leadership that
has held us back as animals of this great Cactapopo
Jungle. I am no better than rhino because of sitting
on his back. The greatest one among us is the one
who serves. I dare even say that serving God and
others is the highest thing that you can do. Let me
ask you one question. How long has King Lion been
riding on our backs?”
“Many many years,” shouted lady gazelle as
she raised her hands to call for attention. “Not just
on our backs but on our stomachs and heads too.”
“We must say enough! Enough to this kind of
self-seeking leadership,” said rabbit emphatically.
“Enough!” shouted the animals in unison.
21
“It is not enough to say enough. We must
demonstrate our determination by voting for a
good leader. I do not claim to be a good leader, but
I have a few plans for our jungle and I am sure that
you will all help me to make those plans succeed.”
“We will help you,” shouted the animals.
“Thank you very much, my fellow friends,” said
rabbit. ”I’m moved by your kindness almost to the
point of shedding tears.”
“It’s okay to cry,” said lady gazelle. “Crying has
become part and parcel of our lives.”
Rabbit wiped away a few tears.
“These are not the tears of bitterness that most
of you have cried time and time again. I cry because
my eyes have seen the brightness of a new future.
I see a future where each one of you lives in a nice
house and enjoys lots of food and clean water every
day of the year. I see a future where we will not live
in fear or be treated like unimportant second rate
animals. Each one of you is important to me. Each
one of you is very special and you all have a great
future.”
There was thunderous clapping and dancing.
The animals beat drums and celebrated.
Rhino sobbed and wiped his eyes with leaves.
“I am so happy, he said.”
The noise made by the animals was a source of
much discomfort to King Lion. He decided to come
22
to the meeting venue. On getting there, he gave a
big roar and the noise died down suddenly.
“Who told you to make all this noise?” he asked
angrily. “Don’t you know that you are disturbing
my peace.”
He then saw rabbit perched on top of rhino.
“Is this little animal the cause of all this noise? If I
give him one bite, he will disappear into my mouth.”
“I am not afraid of your bite King Lion,” said
rabbit boldly. “I am afraid of keeping quiet when
I should raise my voice and speak. I am afraid of
injustice and poor leadership. I am afraid of the
generations after me who will suffer, if I do not take
action today…... and you know what? The animals
are not afraid of you either.”
“We are not afraid!” shouted lady gazelle.
All the animals began to chant. “We are not
afraid!”
Rhino and buffalo stamped their feet and
bellowed menacingly.
King Lion walked away in shame. He was still
limping slightly. When the chanting died down,
rabbit concluded his speech.
“We have started a journey and we will not turn
back.”
“We will not turn back,” shouted the animals.
“You are now free to leave,” concluded rabbit.
23
The animals dispersed and they danced and
shouted as they went.
The ant did not conduct any public campaigns.
He simply went to the queen ant and fed her some
arrow roots to make sure that she laid as many eggs
as possible. He also went to the red ant, safari ant,
white ant and black ant and gave their queens arrow
roots so that they could lay very many eggs.
The monkey went to the human country and
stole clothes, paper, food and money. He then started
dishing out the stolen items to other animals telling
them that if they made him king, he would give
them a lot of free things.
On the day of the election, the animals turned
up in very large numbers. There was heavy rainfall
which drowned many of the young ants who were
coming to the assembly venue to elect the king. Even
the brown ant was trapped on top of a hill and could
not cast his vote.
Monkey was informed by the committee that he
could not be the king because he lacked integrity.
It was bad manners to give the animals a bribe. He
was corrupt and did not have the character to be a
leader.
“Our values are more important to us than
your money,” said tortoise to monkey. “We will
not sell our values to the highest bidder. You are
disqualied because you are corrupt. We will not
24
give a thief the chance to lead us. Our leaders must
have integrity! Take your stolen items back to the
humans. We know that they elect corrupt leaders in
human country, but in our jungle, we have no room
for leaders who have no values. A corrupt leader is
like a rotten fruit. They cannot be of much benet to
anyone.” Tortoise then turned to face the animals.
“Monkey is a thief!”
“Monkey is a thief!” shouted the animals in
unison.”
“Can I talk?” asked elephant.
“Go ahead,” said tortoise.
“Listen.. Listen...listen...” began elephant.
“A leader who steals is not a leader but a thief.
Leadership and theft are like oil and water. They
cannot mix. We cannot expect a thief to manage
our jungle. They will steal what is precious to us
and leave us nothing but leftovers like they do in
human country. Do we want to be led by a thief?”
“No!!!” Shouted the animals.
“I am sorry,” pleaded monkey. “From today, I
will not steal or give a bribe or tell parrot that he is
not original. Please vote for me.”
“A bad character is like a bad smell,” said
elephant. “It does not go away easily. We cannot
vote for you now. Take time and work on your
character.”
25
Giraffe cleared his throat and made the important
announcement. “Now that we only have one choice,
I declare that we have a new king. Put your wings,
paws and hooves together and let us clap for the
new king. King Rabbit is our new king!”
The animals clapped and cheered as rabbit was
made the new king of the jungle. The lion gave him
his crown and all animals were very happy. The
celebration of the animals could be heard many
kilometres away. There had never been such dancing
and happiness in Cactapopo Jungle before.
26
Chapter Review Questions
1. In addition to the qualities mentioned in the
list animals used to select a king, what other
qualities/values should a leader have?
2. Why is corruption bad for a country?
3. What are the good qualities that made rabbit,
monkey and brown ant to be nominated as
candidates to vie for the kingship?
4. Why is tribalism wrong and how does it reveal
itself in the chapter?
27
Chapter 3
Two days after being sworn in as the new king
in a ceremony marked with pomp and colour, King
Rabbit sat on the throne a terried king. Although
he was well guarded by buffalo, wasp and rhino,
the distant roar of the lion and the howl of the jackal
made him afraid. A law had been passed that no
animal should eat another animal. All animals were
supposed to eat grass, herbs and leaves. Lion was
very angry at having lost his position. He roared
angrily throughout the day as if to remind all animals
that he was still powerful. Hyena had complained
bitterly that his spots were beginning to disappear
due to lack of meat in the diet but was told off by
the herbivores.
“You can live without spots,” said the buffalo to
hyena. “Most of us have lived that way all our lives.
External appearance without internal principles is
of no practical value. It is useless!”
On day three after rabbit had been declared
king, it was reported that leopard had tried chasing
warthog. Leopard claimed that it was just a game,
but warthog insisted that it was not just a playful
28
chase.
“I escaped death by a whisker,” complained
warthog to the king. “I do not feel safe in the jungle
anymore.”
It was also reported that kingsher went on
with his habit of catching sh. Hyena said that he
could smell sh in kingsher’s stomach. King Rabbit
realised that something needed to change before the
carnivores trivialised his endeavor to introduce new
laws and policies in the jungle. He called a meeting
and spoke to the animals.
“I have called this meeting to set a few things
straight,” began King Rabbit. “Many things need to
change. I will not allow any animal to eat another
animal. If it is reported that you have eaten any
other animal, you will be put to death. Fish are also
animals.”
“No way!” roared lion. “Fish and insects are not
animals.”
Elephant blew the trumpet and moved towards
lion with his trunk raised.
“Leave him alone,” ordered King Rabbit.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But next time
raise your paw before you speak. It is bad manners
to interrupt the king.”
29
“Leave him alone,” ordered King Rabbit.
30
The lion looked at elephant and rhino who had
their sharp weapons pointed at him, ready to attack.
“I am sorry,” murmured lion as if to himself.
King Rabbit then asked all animals to follow him
to the river which was a few metres away from the
meeting place. When all animals were gathered by
the river bank, elephant cut down two trees and set
up a raised platform for the new king.
“I will not take much of your time,” said King
Rabbit. “The rst thing we must decide is if sh and
insects are animals.”
A big number of sh popped their eyes out from
the water in disbelief. They were happy that someone
was beginning to recognise them.
“We came to the river because we cannot expect
the sh to come to the land. In human language,
we usually say that if the mountain cannot come to
Mahomet, then Mahomet must go to the mountain.”
Lion was about to open his mouth then
remembered and raised his paw.
“What do you have to say?” asked King Rabbit.
“We do not understand this Mahomet nonsense.”
“Mind your language, old lion,” warned King
Rabbit. “I do not like your tone or choice of words.
Understood?”
The lion gave a mighty big roar which scared
many animals. The sh quickly ducked their heads
back into the water while the gazelle and zebra
31
almost ran away.
“Do your work security!” ordered King Rabbit.
Immediately, porcupine shot several arrows
which pierced lion’s face and made him cry out.
He tried to run away but elephant blocked his path.
Wasp stung him in the nose several times while the
skunk aimed a jet of stinking body liquid into his
face. As if that was not enough punishment, giraffe
gave lion a big kick sending him ying across to the
other side of the river.
All the animals cheered wildly. They were happy
to see that justice was nally coming to the jungle.
Even the sh blew bubbles in the water as their way
of celebrating.
“I have one question to the sh,” continued King
Rabbit. “Are you plants or are you animals?”
“We are animals!” shouted the sh in unison.
“You have all heard it for yourselves,” said the
king. “All sh are animals. This means that no animal
can eat sh. Can the baboon add that to our laws.”
“Yes, I will, King Rabbit,” promised the baboon.
Just then, dung beetle arrived at the meeting
venue carrying with him a huge dung ball.
“Sorry I am late,” he said. “I was not sure if I
was invited for the meeting.”
“I will ask you what I asked the sh. Are you a
plant or an animal?”
32
“I am an animal who loves rolling the poo.”
The animals laughed, and King Rabbit continued
talking to them.
“It is now very clear that insects and sh are
animals.”
“No animal can kill another animal. Anyone
seen killing, eating or chasing with the intention of
eating another animal must be put to death. This is
now one of the laws. We now have two basic animal
rights. Every animal has the right to life and every
animal has the right to express their opinion without
being disrespected.”
“I will now give you a few words of wisdom
after which we can embark on building our jungle.
Although the former king believed in ruling through
fear and oppression, I believe in servant leadership.
I believe in consultative leadership. I believe in
smart leadership. Leading through intelligence is
far better than leading through fear. Together, we
must intelligently develop solutions to the problems
that affect us.”
“I will begin by telling you three things about the
river. There is a lot that we can learn from the river
but the three things I want all animals to learn are
as follows. The rst thing is that the river has lots of
determination. When a rock stands before a river,
the river does not give up and stop. It either creates
a way around the rock or it knocks the rock and
33
cracks or wears it out. Sometimes, a river will even
carry heavy rocks downstream when it has the right
strength, or it can go underground and disappear
from view for several kilometres. This must be our
attitude and way of life. We must not easily give up
when things do not go our way. We must bounce
back, get another plan and move forward. In human
country, we call it resilience.”
The animals clapped and cheered their king.
King Rabbit continued. “The second thing that
we can learn from the river is that we are only of
use to our fellow animals when we stick to our
course. When the river overows and goes outside
the riverbed, it becomes very harmful. A river’s
usefulness depends on how well it sticks to its
designated path. As jungle animals, we must stick
to our principles and values. We must be animals
that keep our word and live our lives in service to
each other. When we move out of our path to follow
bad habits and selsh ways, we are a danger to the
jungle and to ourselves.
“Very true,” agreed leopard who had been very
quiet after seeing how lion was punished by the
security team. “I will now use my strength to serve
other animals and will even eat grass like a gazelle.
Please forgive me for trying to catch my friend
warthog. I am always going to support King Rabbit.”
34
All animals cheered as they watched leopard
chew a reed from the river.
“I am very happy for your change in behaviour
although you interrupted my speech,” continued
King Rabbit. “Life is lived better when we serve
others rather than when we use them as a ladder to
reach our many goals. I will now tell you about the
third lesson that I want us to learn from the river.
A river gives life and a refreshing drink to plants
and animals everywhere it goes. It does not choose
which plant to water or which animal to give a
drink. Notice that the greenest place in our jungle
is where the river ows. This should be the habit
of every animal. You must be one that brings life
wherever you go. You should not be a bully or one
who tears others apart. Let others benet from the
fact that you lived. May each one of you make the
jungle a better place just like the river.”
The animals danced and celebrated. They were
happy that they had a wise king. There was a smile
on every face, something that had never happened
in Cactapopo Jungle before.
“Finally, let me tell you what I want to do in my
ve years as king. The rst thing I want to do is to
make sure that everyone has enough food. I want
to introduce fruits into the jungle. I want us to grow
fruit trees along the river and lake. I want us to have
all sorts of fruits.”
35
Dung beetle stood on his ball of dung, raised his
hand and King Rabbit told him to say what was on
his mind.
“I think that this is a lovely idea. In addition to
fruits, I think that we can also eat delicious dung
balls.”
“No way,” interrupted hyena. “This is not
something that we can do.”
“Nobody asked you to talk,” King Rabbit told
hyena. “Everyone has the right to speak their mind.
We may not always agree with the opinions of others,
but we must respectfully listen to them because as
members of the jungle, nobody has all the ideas.”
“I am sorry,” said hyena. “It will not happen
again.”
The snake raised his head indicating that he had
something to say.
“Is what you are about to say constructive?”
asked King Rabbit.”
“Perhaps not,” replied the snake.
“Keep it to yourself for now. We all heard a
suggestion from the dung beetle. I will ask your
views on the food you want us to be eating. By a
show of hands, how many think that fruits are a
good addition to our diet of grass, herbs, twigs and
leaves?”
Almost all the animals raised their hands.
36
“Now how many think that dung balls might
make a good meal?”
Only one hand went up.
“It seems that dung will not really be a popular
food in the jungle. I thank dung beetle for his
suggestion, but we can probably nd some other
use for all the dung in the jungle. Human beings
pay a lot of money to buy cow dung, goat dung and
chicken dung. Perhaps we can sell them elephant
dung or hyena dung or mixed jungle dung. We
will denitely need some money to buy fruit tree
seedlings. I appoint the dung beetle as my minister
for dung collection and amingo as the minister for
seedlings.”
The animals clapped for the dung beetle and
amingo who waved their hands and apped their
wings at the crowd.
“Apart from food security, the next thing I want
all animals to enjoy is a constant supply of water.
You are all aware that in some seasons when there
is no rain for a long time, some animals have died of
thirst and hunger. You will agree with me that we
need to increase the volume of water in our jungle.”
Monkey raised his hand and was told that he
could speak.
“Do you want to put taps in the jungle? That will
destroy our natural beauty,” said monkey.
37
“Thank you for your contribution, monkey. I
do not want to put taps but rather to build dams
across the river in several places. Water will only
enter the dams when the river overows its bank.
The dams will trap lots of water to prevent it from
owing into the ocean prematurely. Only when the
jungle has enough reserves of the precious uid,
to last a couple of months or even years, will the
water then nd its way into the ocean. We will all
work together to dig the dams. They will serve as
reservoirs which will also mean that the sh and
water animals will have more room to thrive and
multiply. I appoint the beaver as the minister for
dams and water security.”
The animals clapped for the beaver who smiled
generously and gave a thumbs up sign to the crowd.
“My third project will be the construction of
underground houses for the animals who want
some shelter from the rain, the wind and natural
elements. We will build underground shelters and
line them with clay. Those like warthog and squirrel
who are good at digging will be called upon to assist.
Lion will also need to share his many dens with
other animals. I appoint warthog as the minister
for housing.”
The animals did not clap which made King Rabbit
ask them the reason why they were not clapping.
38
“Warthog is not very good looking,” said the
peacock while showing off his feathers.
“In the jungle, all animals are beautiful,” said
King Rabbit. “I will not have anyone consider other
animals ugly. Each animal is special in their own
way. Warthog is indeed beautiful in a very special
way. Who made anyone a judge of what beauty
is? You think warthog would look beautiful with a
face and feathers like those of peacock? Do you? In
human country, I see this stupidity all the time. They
even change their body and skin complexion to look
beautiful. Some humans even think that having a
particular skin colour makes one more beautiful or
superior. Who made you a judge of beauty? In our
jungle, what counts is what you have on the inside,
how good natured and respectful you are and how
well you do any duty given to you. True beauty lies
in your service to fellow animals and to the jungle.”
The animals were surprised to see warthog
sobbing and wiping a stream of tears from his eyes.
He raised his hand and King Rabbit allowed him
to speak.
“That is the sweetest thing anyone ever said to
me,” said warthog. “All my life, I was made to feel
ugly by other animals. I was even told that I was
created a little uglier than hyena because I was meant
to be hyena’s food. Leopard once told me that by
eating me, he would be doing me a favour. I feel
39
so special today and I am so happy to know that
I do not have to let other animals’ opinion of me
dene who I am. I do not want feathers like those
of peacock or a horn like that of rhino or a trunk
like that of elephant or a mane like that of lion or
legs like those of giraffe. I am beautiful, and I will
do the work given to me by my king with complete
dedication. Nobody will ever make me feel inferior!”
King Rabbit clapped and led the other animals
in clapping for warthog for a very long time. Even
leopard clapped and gave warthog a hug.
“I am very sorry for looking down on you, my
brother,” said leopard to warthog. “From today,
you shall be my best friend.”
Elephant raised his trunk and was allowed to
speak.
“Today we have witnessed the greatest event in
the living history of this jungle. As a teacher, I will
teach these great lessons and examples to all our
young animals. It is now clear that the greatness of
a king is measured not by how much they bring fear
but by how much they bring hope, set the captives
free and lift up those who are looked down upon by
others. From now on, the warthog is free, the insect
is free, and the sh is free. I dare even say that the
leopard is free from his bad habits, for every animal
is a slave to their bad habits. Can I hear ‘O Yeah’ if
you agree with me.”
40
“O Yeah!” shouted the animals in unison.
“Only the lion is bound to his past because he
has chosen to let the love for his own narrow interest
to override the love for the greater welfare of the
jungle. We can hear him groaning from across the
river, but he is reaping what he has been sowing
over the years. We now see how useless he was as
a leader because he never provided guidance or
worked for the greater good of the jungle. I am so
glad because we are moving in the right direction
under the wise leadership of King Rabbit.”
“O yeah!” shouted the animals in unison.
“If you allow me, I will now conclude my speech,”
said King Rabbit as he requested the animals to be
silent. “One of the things I want to establish is a way
to reward those who are hard working. What can
we use to pay those who are hard working?”
“Wheat pellets!” shouted the giraffe after raising
his hand and being asked to speak. “Human beings
bring them to us when they want us to come out
from hiding behind the trees. The pellets are very
tasty and full of many health benets.”
“That is a great idea. How will we get the pellets
in large quantities?” asked the king.
“We can steal from humans,” suggested monkey.
Wasp gave him a big sting on the ear.
“Ouch!” cried out monkey. “Am I not meant to
give my opinion?”
41
“I have said it over and over again that you must
lift up your hand if you have something to say. It is
bad manners to interrupt the king. Now about your
opinion, stealing is inappropriate behaviour that
we will not entertain in our midst. Shame on you
monkey! If you are trying to be funny, those are not
the types of jokes that make us laugh. And if perhaps
you were seriously expressing your honest opinion,
let me make it crystal clear that I will not allow the
habit or even the act of stealing to prevail under my
watch. Either way, you are morally bankrupt and
unprincipled through and through. Anybody who
wants to be a great leader must keep away from
crime. Your character must be more important to
you than any monetary gain. A thief does not steal
because he lacks money. A thief steals because he
lacks character. One who lacks character is like a tree
without roots. They may look good on the outside
but deep inside, they are very unstable. You cannot
build on them and you cannot depend on them.”
Leopard lifted up his hand and King Rabbit
allowed him to speak.
“I have an idea. Instead of stealing from humans,
we can make them pay a fee for visiting the jungle.
They should pay us for coming into our jungle to
see us. We can ask them to pay us wheat pellets
instead of money.”
42
“Excellent idea,” said the king. “Leopard shall
be the minister for tourism. You are responsible
for making humans pay for every visit that they
make to the jungle. Ostrich shall be the minister for
distribution of pellets on land, hippopotamus in
the lake and tilapia in the river. You will give each
animal pellets according to how much work they
are doing to improve the jungle. Let the work begin
from tomorrow morning. We should involve our
wives in the work. They too need to be attending all
jungle meetings in future. We need them because
they are a very important part of our lives.”
The animals all smiled and clapped their paws,
wriggled their ns or apped their feathers with
delight.
“One last thing. I know that some animals may
secretly eat sh or insects. I appoint the crocodile
as the minister for security. He will make sure
that no animal eats any sh in the river nor insect
in the eld. If an animal is seen trying to chase or
catch another animal, this must be reported to the
crocodile. Remember that one of our rules is that
anyone seen killing, eating or chasing with the
intention of eating another animal must be put to
death.”
The crocodile opened his mouth wide to expose
his sharp teeth and then snapped it shut making
a loud noise. “Thank you, king,” he said, and the
43
animals clapped and cheered wildly.
King Rabbit then closed the meeting after
teaching the animals a jungle song and they went
away singing the song.
We love the jungle,
We love each other,
We will protect our land,
Each one is useful
Each one is lovely
Each one deserves respect.
We got to be different x3
44
Chapter Review Questions
1. What are the qualities of good leadership that
King Rabbit demonstrates?
2. The animals have two rights. What is the
importance of the animal rights?
3. What are the ways in which we can build others
up and not tear each other down?
4. What would you say about how King Rabbit
dealt with dung beetle?
5. Discuss whether King Rabbit loses his authority
by consulting others.
6. Is monkey’s concern about not destroying the
natural beauty justied?
7. How did King Rabbit’s act of making warthog
feel good affect the jungle animals?
8. What wisdom can we learn from elephant about
habits?
45
Chapter 4
In the weeks and months that followed the
appointment of several animals as ministers, work in
the jungle went on without a hitch. The Honourable
Dung Beetle worked well with his team to make
sure that every day, the animals collected enough
dung to be exchanged with a hundred fruit tree
seedlings. Honourable Flamingo made sure that there
were enough birds each day to help in carrying the
seedlings. Monkey, squirrel and gorilla were very
helpful in planting the seedlings along the river-bed.
They were able to plant seedlings for apple trees,
avocado trees, orange trees, mango trees, guava
trees, pawpaw trees, plum trees, banana tubers and
lots of other trees.
Honourable Leopard made sure that humans
paid for their jungle visits in wheat pellets. More
than ten thousand packets of wheat pellets were
collected each day from the human visits. The pellets
were distributed to all the jungle animals according
to how much each animal worked but some were
stored in lion’s den and were guarded by porcupine
and skunk.
46
Honourable Beaver used his building skills to
help direct the construction of two dams in one
month.
Honourable Warthog helped in leading his team
in the digging of ten houses every two days. The
animals would dig holes on one day and plaster
the holes with clay the following day. There was
so much activity in the jungle that the animals
never realised how time ew. King Rabbit and
his security team visited different sections of the
jungle from time to time, to supervise the work and
encourage the animals. Sometimes the king helped
in the distribution of pellets or in the collection of
dung. The animals worked enthusiastically with all
their strength. On some days, they extended their
work to the human country and after consulting
with members of the neighbourhood, they helped
clear grass and weeds and to trim some fences that
looked untidy.
Five weeks after the work had begun, old lion
went around the jungle trying to discourage animals
from working. It appeared that he had not fully
recovered from the wounds that he received when
giraffe had kicked him. He wobbled around with
an evident limp.
“Why are you working so hard and yet you will
all die and leave everything behind?” he asked.
47
“You have no idea how much I miss meat.”
48
Most of the animals ignored him.
He however managed to convince hyena that
life was much better in the past.
“Now all you eat is vegetables and wheat pellets
like a rabbit,” said lion to hyena. “And yet your jaws
were created to crush bones and tear meat. I am sure
you miss meat.”
“Terribly,” admitted hyena. “You have no idea
how much I miss meat.”
“Then let us chase rabbit out of our jungle, let us
overthrow that little animal” advised lion.
“But how?” asked hyena.
“We can begin to make lots of terrible noises
especially at night. Rabbit will not sleep.”
That night, lion and hyena made so much noise
that most of the animals did not sleep. The noise
reminded them of the dark days when eating other
animals went on in the jungle. King Rabbit could
not sleep even though he was heavily guarded by
his security team. During the day, the king called
his security team and ministers to a meeting. They
decided that such noise was a big disturbance to
the peace in the jungle. It was not to be tolerated.
Many animals were not able to work well that
day. They were very sleepy. King Rabbit commanded
elephant to blow the trumpet to call the animals for
a meeting. They all gathered by the river, and it was
clear that most of them were in fear. Lion and hyena
49
did not attend the meeting. King Rabbit sent lady
buttery secretly to go and nd out what lion and
hyena were up to.
“I have called you here to tell you about a decision
that I have made after consulting with my ministers
and my security team. You all know that lion and
hyena made terrible noises all through the night.
Most of you could not sleep. I did not sleep. I have
no idea why the two decided to make the noise, but
we have resolved that such noise is not going to be
entertained. The two animals responsible for the
noise have decided not to come for our meeting.
Although we have a lot of freedom in the jungle,
some animals are using the freedom to steal our
peace. Much as we need to guard our freedom
jealously, we must not give some animals freedom
to make our lives miserable.”
The animals clapped for the king. Gorilla raised
his hand and was allowed to speak.
“The lion has been going around the jungle
like a virus, trying to infect us with a rebellious
attitude,” he began. “He has been discouraging us
from working, but we have not paid attention to his
empty words. However, we have noticed that hyena
has been listening to him in the past few days and
they have teamed up to undermine your authority,
O king. This can only mean danger to the rest of the
jungle. Just give me permission and I will tear lion
50
into two with my bare hands.”
“Thank you for the information,” said King
Rabbit. “I wish you had told me about lion’s
behaviour earlier. We now have a problem in our
hands. We have made a law that it is wrong to kill
another animal. The life of any animal is precious.
The only time an animal can be killed is if he or she
kills another animal. We cannot kill lion, but we
have to stop him from executing his evil plan. He
already has hyena on his side and soon, he might
convince other animals to join him. This will divide
the jungle. A divided jungle cannot stand. Our
strength is in our unity.”
Just then, lady buttery arrived looking very
worried. She requested to be allowed to speak and
King Rabbit gave her the permission.
“You will not believe what lion and hyena are
planning to do,” she began. “I ew to where they
were and hid myself in the bushes. They were talking
of how they would continue making their noise
every night. They said that they were planning to
convince jackal, vulture, snake, leopard, marabou
stork and kingsher to join them. When many of
the former carnivores crossed over to their side,
they would attack at night and kill all the animals
guarding the king. They would then eat King Rabbit
and hang his head on a tree for all animals to see.
Lion would then be made king.”
51
When buttery had nished giving her report,
all the animals went quiet with fear. Tortoise raised
his hand and was allowed to speak.
“This is a very sad day for the jungle. We have
enjoyed much peace and unity under King Rabbit.
We cannot go back to our past. We cannot allow the
greed of a few animals to destroy the little progress
that we are making and the freedom we are enjoying.
Our very lives are at risk because of the plans that
lion and hyena are making. They cannot be allowed
to live in our jungle. One thing I have learnt from
all this is that bad leadership can only continue if
self-interest is placed before jungle interest. Those
who love our jungle must ght for the future of our
young ones. We need a new law that punishes lion’s
behaviour with death.”
“This is a very serious crime,” agreed King
Rabbit. “But will killing lion teach him a lesson?”
“Lion must die!” cried lady tilapia, unable to
hide her emotions. “Sorry I tried to raise my n,
but nobody noticed. “Lion is so cruel that he even
kills his own little cubs. We must kill him. We must
destroy his den and all his property.”
“I can see that you are all very angry,” continued
King Rabbit. “This is good because it shows that you
love the jungle. You cannot let such a bad animal live
in our jungle. I commend your sense of patriotism.
But remember that lion has a wife and little cubs.
52
They need him.”
“I am here,” said lioness as she stepped forward
from the crowd. “I do not like what lion is doing
and the little cubs do not like it too. He told me not
to attend the meeting, but I disobeyed him. Maybe
we can warn him. Perhaps we can call him.”
King Rabbit then requested eagle, lady eagle and
gorilla to go and call lion and hyena. They were to
use force if necessary.
As the other animals waited, eagle and his wife
transported gorilla who held on to the branch of a
tree which the eagles carried in their strong talons.
When they got to where lion and hyena were,
gorilla dropped off from the branch.
“You must be aware that there is a jungle meeting,
you lthy beasts,” said gorilla to the two animals.
“Can you drag your dirty bodies to the meeting
venue before I damage your ugly faces.”
Lion gave a roar that shook the jungle. Gorilla
then beat his chest so loudly that lion was shocked.
“I see you have some little strength on that hairy
chest, but you will have to ght me and my friend
hyena,” said lion.
The two eagles swooped down and scratched
the eyes of lion and hyena. Gorilla then grabbed lion
and gave him a sound beating with a stick. Hyena
tried to run away but the eagles ew down and tore
off bits of esh from his back.
53
“We will come for the meeting,” cried the lion.
“Is this the way to treat your king?”
“We have one king and it is not you,” said gorilla
and gave lion a painful slap on the face. “From now
on you are under arrest you beasts! March on ahead
of us. We will ride on your backs.”
Lion carried gorilla and the eagles were carried
by hyena. It took them one hour to get to the river
where the rest of the animals were waiting. They
laughed and cheered when they saw old lion limping
painfully with gorilla on his back. Only the lioness
and lady hyena appeared sad.
“Why did you not come for the meeting?” asked
King Rabbit. “Did you hear the trumpet?”
“I did not hear the trumpet,” answered hyena
rudely.
The elephant swung his trunk, lifted hyena and
tossed him high into the air. He crushed down with
a loud bang and broke all his legs.
“You must address the king with some respect,”
trumpeted elephant.
Hyena then began to cry uncontrollably. “Please
forgive me. I have been listening to lion. He has
made me to hate the new system. Please do not kill
me. I have made a big mistake. I heard the trumpet,
but I never came to the meeting. I am so sorry, King
Rabbit.”
54
“Your lack of character and your greed made
you a very easy target of lion’s evil plans,” said King
Rabbit to hyena. “How about you, old lion? What
do you have to say?”
The lion looked at all the animals surrounding
him then tried to jump at King Rabbit, but buffalo
acted fast. He caught lion in his horns and tossed
him high into the air. He landed on a tree and was
trapped between its branches.
“Please help me,” groaned the lion.
“You are such a loser,” said King Rabbit. “We
hope that you will continue with your roar tonight.
You will remain trapped in the tree for a full week.
As for hyena, we hope that you have learnt your
lesson. You need to work on your character. A
good character is better than meat or wheat pellets.
Remember the lesson I gave you about the river? A
river’s usefulness depends on sticking to its path.
You have strayed from your path and become a
danger to yourself and to others. I am sure that you
will be more careful to have better friends in future.
Hopefully, you can return to your house when your
legs heal.”
That night, the animals slept soundly. Except
for the groans of lion and hyena, the jungle was
very quiet.
Work in the jungle continued under the guidance
of King Rabbit and his ministers. Three years after
55
taking over leadership, King Rabbit had achieved
most of his goals. All animals that needed a house
were now living in a house. Ten dams had been built
across the river while the fruit trees had begun to
bear fruits. The humans continued to bring wheat
pellets to the jungle under leopard’s supervision.
Hyena’s legs never healed fully, and he had to limp
for the rest of his life. Lion died in his sleep on the
fourth year of King Rabbit’s rule.
The animals held a funeral in his honour. In his
last few years, he had nally accepted the will of the
animals in choosing a new king. He had given King
Rabbit a few hairs from his mane and three of his
claws. King Rabbit attended the funeral and praised
the former king of the jungle for his courage.
“Lion may have had many weaknesses, but we
must celebrate his strengths and contributions too.
He had the heart of a warrior. We must all be as
bold as lion when it comes to defending the jungle.
There is a lion in each one of us. We all have a big
idea that pushes itself out of us with a roar. Always
listen to the roar of ideas within you and never let
the jungle silence you.”
“I am sorry to interrupt you, King Rabbit; can I
roar my idea?” asked the Honourable Dung Beetle.
“Please go, ahead honourable minister,”
encouraged King Rabbit.
56
“I know that this is not the right time to speak
about my idea, but I heard your words and felt as if
you were talking to me. I have been thinking about
how my ministry can be improved. I do not like
the idea of animals collecting dung. Giving me the
position of minister made me realise that all my life, I
had been a self-centered dung collector, when I could
have been a visionary leader. I then discovered that
as a leader, I can help free animals from the duty of
collecting the dung that was to be exchanged with
seedlings from humans. If every animal can drop
their fresh dung in a selected area, then humans can
go to that area and collect it. We do not need to be
collecting dung any more. Let us drop it all in one
place and let the humans come for it. Animals can
then have more time to come up with better ideas
to improve the jungle.”
“That is a great roaring idea,” said King Rabbit
happily. “From now on, I will call you the Honourable
Roaring Beetle. I am so proud of you, my minister.
You are no longer the minister for dung collection
but rather the minister for ideas and jungle progress.
As I was saying earlier, your roar might scare the
cowards and those without ideas like yours but roar
all the more. Your roar might make those around
you uncomfortable but roar all the same. Roar until
the world knows that here lived a great king. Do
not be intimidated by the looks of the crowd or by
57
what they will say or think about you. It does not lie
within your powers to control what others think or
say about you behind your back, because whether
you fail or succeed, they will think and talk about
you nonetheless. Do not be afraid to roar. Express
the roar of greatness trapped within you. Lion knew
how to roar like no other animal could. His style of
leadership served the jungle well in the past. But he
failed to prepare for the future. We must never get
too comfortable with our present circumstances that
we forget to make plans for our future. Like a river,
life comes in many stages and seasons. We must be
ready to step into our new seasons by letting go of
past achievements. Thank you very much my fellow
animals.”
58
Chapter Review Questions
1. What attributes or values did the animals
demonstrate as they built their jungle?
2. Why was it easy for lion to convince hyena to
join him in the plot to overthrow King Rabbit?
3. Perhaps tortoise had a better sense of justice than
gorilla and tilapia. Why is this?
4. Do you think that gorilla exercised any self-control
in how he dealt with lion?
5. What in the passage suggests that lion is unable
to accept reality? Is this a good thing for a leader?
6. If you were King Rabbit, would you have
subscribed to the general feeling of the animals
that lion ought to be put to death? Explain.
59
Chapter 5
In the two years that followed the death of old
lion, Cactapopo Jungle witnessed a time of progress
never seen before. The fruit trees that had been
planted along the river bank grew and began to
produce a wide variety of fruits. Animals were
now able to eat avocados, apples, bananas, oranges,
plums, pawpaws, guavas, mangoes and many other
fruits. It was a time of much feasting and celebration.
The production of food was so abundant that
the animals donated two lorry loads of fruits to
ve children’s homes and two hospitals in human
country. The wild goose was given the task of
identifying the nearby children’s homes and hospitals
that needed nancial help. Some of the fruits were
sold in the market through the help of the men
who bought dung from the animals, and the money
donated to the children’s homes and hospitals.
The animals worked less because most of the
work had been done. Except for the sh and birds,
each animal lived in an underground house, cave
or den. Ten dams had been constructed which
ensured that the animals had a constant supply
60
of water all the year round. The animals did not
have to collect dung anymore because two areas
had been set aside where each animal would drop
their fresh dung. Humans came each day with
lorries carrying wheat pellets after which they would
tour the jungle. The animals enjoyed a season of
feasting and relaxation as they had never done
before. When humans attempted to cut down trees
in the jungle, some animals tried to stop them. The
humans claimed that the trees were not part of the
animal jungle and threatened to kill any animal
who tried to stop them. Honourable Leopard, the
minister for tourism, reported this to King Rabbit.
The king called his ministers and security team for
an emergency meeting. They discussed the matter
and most of the ministers felt that the animals should
warn the humans against cutting down trees. They
also resolved to assign duties to some animals who
would guard the forest and attack the humans who
disobeyed the warning.
“Now that we do not need to plant more fruit tree
seedlings, why don’t we start planting a fence around
the jungle,” suggested the Honourable Roaring
Beetle. “The fence will mark our territory so that
no one will have an excuse to cut down our trees.”
“That is an excellent idea,” agreed King Rabbit.
“The humans are taking advantage of the fact that
there are no clear boundaries in our jungle. We need
61
a good fence.”
“But we also need a strong security team,”
suggested Honourable Crocodile, the minister for
security. “These humans have guns and they seem
ready to shoot us if we stop them from cutting down
trees.”
The ministers agreed that the humans needed to
be stopped from cutting down trees immediately.
They also agreed on constructing a fence around
the jungle.
“How will we stop the humans from cutting
down trees?” asked Honourable Flamingo, the
minister for seedlings.
“I can stop them,” said rhino who was a member
of the security team.
“I do not think so,” said Honourable Leopard,
the minister for tourism. “They will kill you with
their guns because you are too big to miss.”
“I think that Honourable Leopard is very right,”
agreed Honourable Warthog, the minister for
housing. Maybe I have a better idea.”
“Your ideas are very welcome, Honourable
Warthog,” said King Rabbit. “Good ideas are the
solutions to the problems that face us.”
“I think that we can form an army of bees and
wasps who can attack the humans and stop them
from treating us with disrespect. We deserve to be
respected. Humans may shoot the rhino with guns,
62
but they cannot be able to shoot the bee or the wasp.
Being small can be an advantage at times.”
There was thunderous clapping from the king
and the ministers.
“That is an excellent idea,” said King Rabbit. “I
call on Honourable Crocodile assisted by the wasps
in my security team to inform all the bees and wasps
about our mission.”
That afternoon, the bees and wasps attacked the
humans who were cutting down trees and chased
them out of the jungle. The humans left their guns,
lorries and power saws behind.
Lady buttery then approached King Rabbit and
expressed her fear that the humans would return for
their lorries, guns and power saws. She predicted
that this time the humans might be more armed. King
Rabbit requested lady buttery and the weaver bird
to go and nd out what the humans were planning
to do. They returned after two hours and reported
that the humans were planning to come with three
more lorries full of men armed with guns and bee
protection equipment.
King Rabbit then informed the security team and
the ministers about the plan by the humans. “We
need ideas on what to do,” he pleaded.
“I have an idea,” said the Honourable Roaring
Beetle. “We must catch the humans by surprise. Let
us not let them drive their lorries into the jungle. If
63
possible, let us block the road using trees and rocks.
This will force them to come out of their lorries. It
will be easier to deal with them.”
“Very good idea,” said King Rabbit. He then
told elephant and lady elephant to cut down trees
and block the road.
“I have another idea,” said the rhino. “We can
give the guns that humans left to the monkeys,
gorillas and baboons. I am sure that they can learn
how to shoot in a few minutes. They can hide in the
bushes and shoot the humans.”
“This might lead to the death of a few of them,”
said King Rabbit. “I do not support the killing of the
humans. I love your idea, but life is very precious.
In our world today, it is easier to destroy than to
build but when it comes to life, it is impossible to
bring back to life what has been killed.”
“I have an idea,” said the buffalo. “Why can’t we
all hide in the bushes and then charge at the humans
when they appear. I am sure that we can overcome
them if we catch them by surprise.”
“Not everyone has a big body,” said the wasp.
“We cannot all charge at humans. I think that the
method we used last time is the best. Bees and wasps
are the best attackers. We only need to remove the
protective clothes from the humans.”
“That’s a great idea,” said King Rabbit. “I think
that bats will be able to bite off the nets that humans
64
will be wearing on their faces. Once the nets are off,
the bees and wasps can do their work.”
The animals agreed that this was a great idea.
The bats, wasps and bees were called and given
instructions.
After a short while, three lorries were seen
approaching in the distance. The animals with wings
or who could climb trees hid in the trees while those
without wings hid behind the trees.
When the lorries got to the place where the
elephants had blocked the road with rocks and logs,
one man who seemed to be the leader came out of
one of the lorries and was joined by another.
“The animals think that they can stop us with
this small road block,” said the leader.
“This is a small problem Captain Califogy. We
can walk and leave a few men to remove the road
block.”
Captain Califogy then divided his men into two
groups and ordered some to march into the jungle
while the others would be left to remove the rocks
and logs from the road.
The men left their lorries and started walking
into the jungle, carrying power saws and armed with
guns. When they came to the area where the animals
were hiding, the bats suddenly fell on them from the
trees. They tore away the protective clothing forcing
the men to drop their guns in fear as they struggled
65
to ght off the bats unsuccessfully.
When the bats had nished tearing big holes into
the men’s protective head nets, they ew away, and
signaled to the bees and wasps that all was clear.
The armed insects descended on the unprotected
men and stung them mercilessly. They ran away
screaming like scared puppies, leaving their guns and
power saws behind. The bees and wasps followed
them all the way to the lorries, inicting pain and
teaching them a lesson they would live to remember.
The insects stepped up their assault when they got
to the men who were trying to unblock the roads.
Captain Califogy ordered the men to get into the
lorries, but they could not get past the swarm of
determined bees that blocked the path to the lorries.
He was stung severally by the bees and wasps when
he tried to climb into one of the lorries, forcing him
to run for his dear life. The bruised men ran on foot
and left the lorries behind.
The animals clapped and cheered wildly. They
collected the guns left by the men and kept them
in one of the caves. The Honourable Beaver bit into
the lorry tires and attened them. The animals sang
the jungle song and ate fruits to celebrate.
66
They ran away screaming like scared puppies,...
67
Soon thereafter, King Rabbit made cheetah the
minister for fence construction. Honourable Cheetah
was asked to arrange with Honourable Flamingo
on how to obtain thorn tree seedlings that would
be planted all around the jungle.
Due to the good conditions in the jungle, so many
young animals were born. The jungle population
more than doubled in ve years. One day, King
Rabbit called the animals to a meeting by the river.
“I have called you here to tell you that I have
completed my ve years of service to the jungle.”
Lady Zebra raised her hand up and was allowed
to talk.
“Please continue being king for ve more years,”
she said. “We have enjoyed our time and have
experienced a lot of progress. I am sure that this is
the feeling of all the animals.”
“O yeah,” shouted the animals in unison.
“Thank you for your faith in me. However, I
must let somebody else to take up my position. I
have accomplished my plans for the jungle. Besides,
I must obey the law. Our laws state that an animal
can only be king for a ve-year term after which an
election must be held.”
Some animals began to cry and wail loudly.
“I know that we will get a new king who will help
our jungle experience even more progress. Thank
you very much for allowing me to lead you for the
68
past ve years. I have enjoyed watching all of you
working together to make our jungle a better place.
May this unity always prevail. May we all selessly
work for the good of the jungle and not for our own
selsh interests. For now, I want us to embark on
the process of electing our next king.”
“Who do you want us to select as king?” asked
Honourable Hippo as he wiped a tear.
“I cannot give an opinion,” said King Rabbit.
“That is for you to decide, but please choose wisely.
A bad leader can undo the progress and the good
things that we have enjoyed. Choose a leader who
has a compelling vision and great plans for the
jungle.”
Two of lion’s cubs were now big and one was
interested in being king. The roaring beetle also
wanted to be king. Apart from the lion and the
roaring beetle no other animal wanted to be king.
They were given one week to go and convince other
animals on why they should be elected king.
The roaring beetle travelled across the jungle
and told the animals that he would rule through big
ideas. He promised to give more pellets to animals
that would come up with great ideas to improve life
in the jungle. He said that he would continue to rule
the way King Rabbit had ruled. The lion went to
the animals and convinced them that they needed a
king who was bold and good looking. He told them
69
that dung beetle was not big enough to be a king.
“How can you call dung beetle a roaring beetle?
The only roaring animal is me.”
He gave his pellets to the crow who went around
telling the animals how good lion was. The crow
told the animals that the beetle had a very bad past.
“Beetle used to eat my dung,” said the crow.
“Can you imagine being ruled by a dung eater?
All the humans will come and laugh at us if dung
beetle is our king. Let us vote for a leader who looks
like a king.”
On the day of the election, the animals turned
out in big numbers to vote for their king. The lion
received ten thousand nine hundred and fty votes
(10,950) while the beetle received ten thousand nine
hundred and forty eight votes (10,948).
Elephant blew the trumpet and the animals
gathered at the river. The head of the election team
was the giraffe.
“We have a new king,” said the giraffe. “Lion
won more votes than roaring beetle.”
There was some cheering and clapping especially
from the hyena and jackal. Giraffe then called the
outgoing king to invite the new one.
“I am lled with much happiness today,” said
King Rabbit. “Ever since I came to Cactapopo Jungle,
I was received very warmly and have been given
a lot of cooperation by you all. Please give the new
70
king the cooperation you gave me. I came to this
jungle with big goals and plans. I am proud of the
work that we have done together to achieve these
goals. The jungle is a better place than I found it. I
have kept my word of bringing the changes that I
promised. Let us be animals that always keep our
word. I will be going back to human country because
that is where I left my family. All I require of you my
fellow animals, is that you remain united and work
diligently to improve life in the jungle. I urge the
new king to listen to the animals. They will readily
follow you if they know that you have their best
interests at heart, but they will reject you once you
begin to act in a way that is selsh. I now want to
invite King Lion to talk to us.”
King Lion gave a roar that shook the jungle. “I
am happy that you have restored the kingdom back
to where it belongs,” he began. “I don’t have much
to say. I will begin by appointing my ministers.
Those who will help me in managing the jungle are
hyena, jackal, crow, snake, chameleon, cheetah and
the lioness who is my twin sister. My rst plan is to
build an electric fence around the jungle. We must
protect ourselves from the greedy humans who want
to cut down our trees.”
Some animals clapped their paws happy that
King Lion had a plan.
“For now, you can all go home. Crow will be the
71
minister for information. He will be telling you the
rest of my plans whenever I send him to tell you.”
“I have a question,” said baboon as he raised
his hand.
“Give your question to Honourable Hyena,” said
King Lion. “He is the minister in charge of questions
and complaints.”
King Lion gave a roar that shook the jungle. “Go
to your homes!” he ordered.
The animals obediently left and went away with
many questions in their minds. King Lion went to
his den and told crow that apart from the ministers,
no animal could come near the den.
However, the snail who was not at the meeting
decided to go to King Lion’s den to wish him well.
The crow and the hyena stopped snail from coming
close to the king.
“Get your ugly body out of this area before I
crush you with my beak,” commanded the crow.
“If you have anything to say, Honourable Hyena
will tell it to the great king on your behalf.”
“I just wanted to wish the king well,” cried the
snail.
“Hahaha hahahaa,” laughed hyena. “You think
his royal highness the great king has time for such
nonsense? Get out of here before I turn your soft
slimy body into a pancake.”
The snail turned back and went away crying.
72
Chapter Review Questions
1. By donating food to the less fortunate, what value
are the animals demonstrating?
2. Why do you think that the animals were very
opposed to the cutting down of trees?
3. According to the chapter, was King Rabbit’s a
successful leader?
4. What are ve benets that the animals enjoyed
because of King Rabbit’s visionary leadership?
5. How would you describe Honourable Rhino and
his ideas?
6. Was the king wrong in implementing Honourable
Warthog’s ideas and not those of Honourable
Rhino?
7. Was King Rabbit justied in turning down the
request that he be made king for another 5 years?
8. King Rabbit refuses to endorse anyone as the
next king. Do you think that this is right?
9. How would you describe King Lion’s new
government?
73
Chapter 6
After King Lion had sent the animals home,
rabbit waited until it was dark. He then stole away
quietly and left the jungle, as the animals slept. In
the morning, many animals cried when they realised
that rabbit had left them. When crow reported this
to King Lion, the king ordered that if an animal
was caught crying, he or she would be punished by
Honourable Snake. Honourable Snake was made
the minister for punishment.
Many of the animals were very sad that the new
king did not seem to care about them. He refused
to meet them and delegated the responsibility
to Honourable Hyena the minister in charge of
questions and complaints. Any animal with a
problem, complaint or a solution to a problem
was free to inform the minister during working
hours. Honourable Hyena adopted the habit of
laughing loudly when listening to the animals who
came to him with their issues. After one week, the
minister said that he was tired of listening to trivial
complaints. He told the animals that anyone with a
complaint must write it on the leaves of an Aloe vera
74
plant using a thorn from an acacia tree. Honourable
Hyena would read the writing on the leaves once
a week.
Honourable Cheetah was not happy about how
things had changed in the jungle. He went to the king
and told him that he did not wish to be a minister
any more. The king called him a fool and told him to
go and drown himself in the lake. Cheetah walked
away feeling bitter, but he did not say a word. One
month after being made king, lion sent Honourable
Crow to announce to the animals that humans would
be allowed to construct an electric fence around the
jungle in exchange for permission to cut down trees.
The roaring beetle told the crow to tell King Lion
that an electric fence was not necessary because the
animals were capable of planting a fence around the
jungle. When Honourable Crow reported this to King
Lion, the king told the minister to inform beetle that
his opinion stunk like a ball of fresh skunk dung
and was therefore not worth implementing. One
week after the announcement that humans would be
allowed to build an electric fence around the jungle,
the animals were surprised to see humans in the
jungle. The men came with their lorries, guns and
power saws. They also carried some boxes which
were taken to King Lion’s den.
Lady buttery was able to hide under the boxes
and managed to sneak into King Lion’s den. To her
75
horror, buttery saw the humans opening the boxes
and removing what looked like meat. When the
humans left, King Lion was the rst to eat the meat
followed by Honourable Lioness and then the other
ministers. Honourable Hyena made sure that there
was no bone or hide that was left. There was also
a packet of sausages which were strictly meant for
the king. The king ate them as a dessert.
Buttery reported this to the roaring beetle who
decided to investigate if the report was true. The
following day, beetle, ladybird and lady buttery
secretly hid near King Lion’s den and waited to see
what the king and his ministers did all day.
The three spies listened as the Honourable Hyena
told the king that all the animals were very happy
that the vegetable chewing rabbit had nally left.
King Lion smiled and said that he wondered if
the elephant was also happy.
“The elephant eats fruits all day,” hissed
Honourable Snake. “He is very happy that under
your wise leadership my king, he is able to have
enough fruits to ll his big stomach. We have never
had a king like you, your majesty the great King Lion.
Your greatness and fame have given all the animals
sufcient reason to rejoice and nd contentment in
meditating on your great benevolence. Your roar
and strength are a major source of comfort and
tranquility in our great jungle my king.”
76
They were still talking, when humans came with
a huge gold-plated den and two big boxes. The gold-
plated den was lined with soft materials on the inside
and there was even a mattress and a pillow to make
the king comfortable. King Lion smiled generously
and thanked the humans for being so considerate.
The humans promised to make smaller silver cages
for the rest of the ministers. When the humans left,
the king and his ministers opened the boxes and
removed meat and sausages. The king was rst to
eat followed by the Honourable Lioness and then the
other ministers just as the buttery had reported. The
roaring beetle, ladybird and lady buttery then left
their hiding place and ew to where elephant was.
“You will not believe what the king and his
ministers do,” said lady bird to elephant.
“Please tell me,” requested the elephant.
“They eat meat brought to them by humans three
times a day. The king even eats sausages. He will
start living in a den made from gold. It was brought
to him by the humans along with a mattress and
pillow.”
“That’s enough!” said elephant angrily and
blew a trumpet.
The crow ew to where elephant was and asked
him what his problem was.
“It’s none of your business,” replied elephant.
“Leave before I knock your silly head off!”
77
“Leave before I knock your silly head off!”
78
The elephant was so angry that, the jungle
animals felt the ground shaking. The crow ew
and informed King Lion that elephant had behaved
in a way that threatened the security of the jungle.
“You will not believe O king what the elephant
has said,” reported the crow.
“What did that big useless animal say?” asked
King Lion as he chewed on a string of sausages.
“He said that he would kill you and all the
ministers.”
“What!” exclaimed King Lion. “That monster
must be put to death. Go and call captain Califogy.
We cannot have such a monster in our jungle.”
The crow ew away to call Captain Califogy.
Unknown to them, lady buttery and ladybird
were hiding behind a tree eavesdropping on the
entire conversation. Soon after, lady buttery ew
to elephant and found him having a meeting with
roaring beetle, buffalo, baboon, cheetah, warthog
and leopard.
“I have bad news for you,” said lady buttery.
“The crow has been sent by King Lion to call someone
to come and kill elephant.”
“I saw that coming,” said elephant. “I will not
allow these selsh leaders to continue their loathsome
habits. Already, the humans have cut more than ten
thousand trees in our jungle. The electric fence is yet
to be constructed. Now the king and his ministers
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are eating meat brought to them by humans. Very
soon, the humans will be killing us to get our meat
and valuable body parts.”
“Our laws state that we should have an election
after every ve years,” said baboon. “I think that we
must come up with a law that allows us to remove
and replace an ineffective king through a vote. We
have no condence in these new leaders.”
“I agree,” said leopard. “All the animals are very
unhappy. We do not get wheat pellets any more.
Furthermore, the leaders have no plan except to
gratify their bodily appetites.”
“Life was better when King Rabbit was our king,”
said warthog.
Just then, they heard the sound of an approaching
car.
“Quick. Let us hide behind the bushes,” said the
roaring beetle. “We can then see what the humans
are up to.”
Unknown to them, the crow was in the car. When
the car got to where the animals had been, it stopped.
The crow ew out and went searching for elephant.
Elephant who was hiding behind a bush along with
his friends realised that the crow would spot him
easily. It was difcult to hide such a big body.
“We have only one solution,” whispered the
warthog. “Let baboon run towards the car and snatch
the gun from the humans.”
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“I will do it myself,” trumpeted the elephant. “I
will not sit down and watch while the progress we
have made in the last ve years is reduced and our
freedom stolen by selsh leaders. Enough of this
nonsense! Let me get those invaders!”
Elephant then ran out of his hiding place and
charged at the humans in the car. This caught them
by surprise. Captain Califogy climbed out of the
car, rie in hand. Elephant increased his speed and
got to him before he could re a bullet. The captain
was thrown into the air sending his rie and four
teeth ying into the bushes. Seeing this, the driver
reversed the car into the bushes, quickly picked the
shaken captain and sped off. The crow who had seen
all this happen ew to inform King Lion.
When King Lion heard what the elephant had
done, he called his ministers to a meeting.
“I want us to discuss how to kill the elephant,”
said King Lion. “Now that Captain Califogy has
failed to do so, we need another plan.”
“I have an idea,” said chameleon.
“It had better be good,” said King Lion.
“Why can’t we give monkey a gun and ask him to
shoot the big animal at night. I am sure that monkey
knows how to use a gun. I once gave him some meat
secretly, so he is likely to do the job if we pay him.”
“Good idea,” said King Lion. “Can the crow go
and call monkey at once.”
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When monkey arrived, King Lion questioned
him.
“I have heard that chameleon gave you meat
and you ate it greedily. Is that true?”
“Yes, but….”
“Good. Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Do you want some more?”
“Eh eh, not sure my king.” The monkey was
terried. He did not know whether eating the meat
was a crime or not.
“We want to give you some meat,” said King
Lion. “But only if you will do us a small favour.”
“I will do anything for the king,” said monkey
happily.
“We want you to help us get rid of an enemy
who is trying to bring problems to this jungle.”
“You want me to kill?” asked monkey fearfully.
“Is that not against the rules?”
“Rules have changed,” said chameleon. “The
only rule we have is to obey the king. Didn’t you
eat meat and it is against the rules.”
The monkey looked at all the animals around him
and trembled with fear. Chameleon had promised
not to tell any animal about the meat eating incident.
“Will you help us?” asked King Lion. “I will
appoint you a minister and you can have all the
meat you want.”
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“Yes, I will,” said monkey.
“Good. We want you to take a gun and shoot
elephant in the night.”
“But I have never used a gun,” said monkey.
“I will ask someone to teach you.”
Ladybird who had listened to the whole
conversation ew to elephant and informed him
about the new development.
“Let us wait to hear about the news about
monkey’s appointment from the crow,” said elephant
calmly. “We will then act in a way that will bring
this madness to a screeching halt.”
As they were talking, the crow called all the
animals together and told them that he had a very
important announcement. When the animals had
gathered at the river, the crow told them that monkey
was now the minister for trees and the environment.
Unknown to him, the elephant had told the eagle
to arrest the crow once he had made the important
announcement.
Without warning, eagle ew down from a tree
and caught crow by the wings and beak.
The crow tried to shout but eagle’s grip was very
rm. The animals clapped but many were in fear.
“Dear animals,” said elephant. “We all saw how
well King Rabbit ruled us with wisdom and how he
set up rules to help us live well. Now there is a rule
that no animal should eat or kill another animal. Do
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you all agree?”
“Yes,” whispered the animals.
“I see that you are all in fear. Shake yourselves
from this fear. This is our jungle! This is our
jungle!” trumpeted the elephant. “Let baboon tell
us something.”
The animals clapped for the baboon. They were
beginning to feel encouraged.
“We need to have a new rule,” said the baboon.
“Although our rules say that a king should rule for
ve years, we need another rule that says that if the
animals are not happy about how a king rules, they
can remove such a king through a vote.”
“I agree,” shouted the buffalo. “We need another
king.”
“I agree,” said the parrot. “We need another
king.”
“First things rst,” said the baboon. “Since I am
the one who writes the rules, do we all agree that we
need to have a new rule that allows us to remove a
bad king from power?”
“Yes!” shouted the animals in unison.
“Let me see by a show of paws or wings.”
The animals lifted their paws and birds apped
their wings to show that they agreed. Baboon then
wrote down the rule.
“Do we also agree that we can remove a bad
king when more than half the animals in the jungle
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agree to remove such a king?”
Once more the animals lifted their paws and
birds apped their wings to show that they agreed.
Baboon then wrote down the new rule.
“Let the ladybird tell us something,” said the
elephant.
After the ladybird had told the animals all that
King Lion and his ministers had been doing in secret
and the reason monkey was made a minister, the
animals were shocked beyond words.
Buttery conrmed that what the ladybird had
said was true.
“We need a new king!” shouted the animals in
unison.
Baboon then asked the animals who did not want
King Lion to continue being the king to lift up their
paws or wings. All the animals did so.
“We now need a new rule to guide us on who
becomes the new king once a bad king is rejected.”
The animals agreed that the animal that took the
second position during the previous voting period
would be made king once a bad king was rejected.
This was added to the list of new laws.
“We have a new king!” proclaimed the giraffe.
“King Beetle has replaced lion in accordance with
our constitution and is now our king! We call him
King Roaring Beetle because of his roaring ideas!”
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The elephant blew a trumpet and the animals
danced and celebrated.
“Let the crow go,” said King Beetle to the eagle.
“Let him go and tell lion that he is no longer the
king. The animals have made new laws and they
have gone ahead and demoted lion from his position
of authority. We will continue to build our jungle
because we cannot expect the hyena and the lion to
bring meaningful reformation.”
The crow ew painfully to the lion’s den. Lion
and the animals around him were beginning to get
worried when they heard the noise that the animals
were making.
“You will not believe what the animals have
done,” said the crow. He then told the lion and
former ministers how the animals had established
new laws that had been used to dethrone king Lion.
“I’m afraid that you are not the king anymore,”
concluded the crow.
Lion then gave a roar and was joined by lioness.
However, the animals continued to shout and
celebrate. The feeling of freedom made them unafraid
of the roar of the lion.
“Do not fear lion or the greedy animals around
him,” advised the new king. “Fear is an enemy of
progress. Fear puts us in chains. Fear makes the
heart grow cold, causing it to die a slow and silent
death. But courage and determination are like a re
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that lights the heart. We shall not be afraid of the
roar of the lion because we have the roar of courage
within us. We are united, and we have one thing
in mind – to make our jungle a place of fruitfulness
once more. A place we can be proud to call home.
And we will stand together to make sure that no
animal will steal from us the freedom that we once
enjoyed.”
King Beetle’s speech was greeted with thunderous
applause and prolonged clapping. In the midst of
the celebration, lion, lioness, hyena and snake made
a surprise attack on the animals causing some like
gazelle and antelope to run away. The shout of
celebration soon turned into a desperate cry for help.
Snake tried to bite warthog, but porcupine shot
him in the eye. Elephant, rhino and buffalo formed a
circle around the king and other animals who were
not fast enough to run. Gorilla beat his chest loudly
and ran towards the lion. The lion grabbed the gorilla
and tried to bite him but received a painful slap on
the nose. The wasps managed to drive the lion and
his team away.
During the night, lion and his team attacked the
animals and tried to wrestle buffalo to the ground.
A group of bats came down on the invaders and
fought them away. For the next one week, lion,
lioness, snake and hyena tried to scare the animals
by making loud noises in the night or attacking the
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weaker animals, but the stronger animals formed a
protective shield around the weaker ones.
Lion even ordered monkey to pluck out fruits
from all the trees so that the animals could experience
starvation. As monkey tried to pluck and throw
down unripe avocados from a tree, leopard quickly
climbed the tree and chased monkey away.
Unable to stand the confusion, threats and noise
any more, King Beetle ordered the elephant to blow
his trumpet.
When all the animals except for lion and his
former ministers had gathered at the river, King
Beetle began to talk to them. Due to his small size,
he stood on a rock.
“I stand before you today in humility and deep
gratitude. I have called you today not to celebrate
my victory but to talk about a very disturbing thing
in our jungle. Our rules are very clear that there can
be only one king in the jungle but there is a group
of animals who want to spread confusion.”
Just then, lion came running and tried to chase
wildebeest who was standing near squirrel. Squirrel
got some courage, jumped on lion’s head and pulled
his mane. Lion gave a cry of surprise and tried to
shake the squirrel off. The squirrel bit the lion’s ear,
forcing him to run away screaming into the bushes.
The animals clapped for squirrel and King Beetle
continued addressing them.
88
“You have seen for yourselves how lion and
his ministers ruled us. They were greedy and only
interested in themselves. Did you see any progress
in the jungle?”
“No!” shouted the animals.
“But last week, we managed to remove bad
leaders from positions of authority by coming up
with laws that helped us do this. Now, we cannot
continue to be disturbed by the greedy animals.
What they are doing is a crime against the jungle.
We need a law on how to punish such animals.”
Flamingo raised her wing and King Beetle asked
her to talk.
“The crime that lion is committing is called
treason. It must be punished by death. But we do
not want to kill those animals, let us make a law that
any animal who tries to bring trouble and disunity
in the jungle and who does not obey the laws of
the jungle must be put in a cage and locked up in
a human zoo. I am sure the humans will be willing
to buy a few animals.”
“That is a brilliant idea,” said the king. “Can
baboon put that in our laws. By tomorrow, we will
go and get humans who will arrest these trouble
makers. Do the other animals like this new law?”
“O yeah!”
“My rst plan as king is to remove from the jungle
the animals that will not follow our constitution. Any
89
animal who has not come to our meeting cannot be
allowed to live by their own laws. We must all live
by the laws that we have made.”
The animals clapped for their king.
“I now appoint Honourable Leopard and
Honourable Flamingo as ministers in charge of
internal security. They will make sure that humans
cannot enter our jungle without paying and they
will also make plans to have lion, lioness, hyena,
crow, snake, monkey, chameleon and jackal taken
away to the zoo.”
The animals sang the jungle song and went away
happy that they had a good king.
Later that day, the internal security ministers
went and held discussions with some ofcials from
the zoo. The ofcials agreed to buy six animals at the
price of two lorries full of wheat pellets. However,
they indicated that they did not want to buy the
crow and the chameleon because people could not
pay to view such animals.
That evening, traps were laid and lion was
caught. He was taken to the zoo.
By the end of the week, all the six troublesome
animals had been trapped and carried away to the
zoo. Crow and chameleon were thrown out of the
jungle and went to live in human country.
Once more, there was peace in the jungle. The
animals were happy that they could continue
90
building their jungle. King Beetle asked elephant
to blow the trumpet and all the animals gathered
by the river.
“It lls my heart with great joy to be your new
king,” proclaimed King Beetle jubilantly. “You have
made me a king although many negative things have
been said about me by the animals that did not have
any leadership qualities in them. They forgot that
you cannot become good by making others look bad.
It is true as lion and crow kept reminding you that
I used to eat dung and roll in it. In fact, my whole
life was built around dung. I did not care whose
dung it was. Any dung was good for me. But that
was my past. I cannot change my past, but I cannot
let my past stop me from being the leader I was
created to be. We have all made mistakes; anyone
here without mistakes?”
“No!” Shouted the animals in unison.
“And I have learnt from my mistakes,” continued
the king. “One must live a life that is bigger than
self. One must have a vision that is bigger than
the fullment of personal needs. One must think
beyond the cave of past habits and into a future full
of promise. I want us to create a jungle that each of
us can be proud of. A place where we work together
for the good of our jungle. I cannot do this alone. I
need your help and your ideas.”
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“We will help you, king,” said the rhino.
“We will help you, king,” repeated the parrot.
“We will help you,” shouted the animals in
unison.
“Thank you for your support,” said the king.
“We have all seen how because of the greed of a
few animals, a lot of our trees have been cut down.
We must plant a fence around our jungle. This is
something that we will do starting today. We will
not need to buy seedlings because we have many
seedlings in the jungle. We will just need to uproot
them and plant them around the jungle. Honourable
Cheetah will be my minister for fence construction.”
The animals clapped and cheered wildly.
“Now that there are enough fruits for all of us,
I want us to plant owers so as to make our jungle
beautiful.”
The animals looked at each other in surprise.
“I see that you are very surprised. Apart from
beauty, I want the owers to be a source of nectar
for our bees.”
The bees buzzed happily with joy.
“Our bees have been very good soldiers. We must
thank them for doing a very good job in protecting
our jungle. In addition, I want bees to have enough
nectar so that they can produce honey for all of us.
We want to add honey to our diet and just like the
wheat pellets, you will be given honey according to
92
how much work you have done.”
The animals all danced and celebrated with joy.
Even the bees were happy to share their honey with
the rest of the jungle animals.
“The minister for planting owers will be
Honourable Beaver and the minister for honey
distribution will be Honourable Chimpanzee.”
The animals clapped for the new ministers.
“Finally, let me say that I am very sad that a big
part of our jungle has been destroyed. We have a
lot of land that is without trees. I want us to do two
things with that land. One of the things we will do
is to uproot all the tree stumps and level the ground.
We will plant grass so that we can create a eld
where we will be having games and competitions.
Honourable Squirrel will oversee competitions in
the eld. We will invent our own games. The second
thing I want us to do is to start planting new things.
One of them is carrots and the other one is coffee.
We will use the coffee to put some avor in our
water especially at the hot water springs. If we have
more coffee than we need, we can even sell it to the
humans. The carrots will help improve our eye sight
and strengthen our teeth. Honourable warthog shall
be the minister in charge of new plants. Let us not be
afraid to try out new things. Honourable buttery
shall be the minister for new ideas. All your ideas
are welcome. Let us make our jungle a better place
93
through our great ideas.”
“It is my hope that we will have fun as we
change the jungle into a better place. I am happy to
lead such a great group of leaders. I see a leader in
each one of you. We must all behave in a way that
is responsible so that our young ones can follow
our example. Since I feel that the education of our
young ones is very important, I promote elephant
from the position of a teacher to the position of the
minister for education. He will help us to come up
with the best way to train our young ones so that
they too can be leaders from an early age. In human
country, the grownups lie to the children and the
youth that they are the leaders of tomorrow. The
children and the youth are still being ruled by their
grandfathers or great grandfathers as they wait to
become national or corporate leaders.”
The snail raised his tentacles and was allowed
to speak.
“Is it true that in human country, the children
are still being ruled by their ancestors?” he asked.
The animals burst into laughter and when it had
subsided, King Beetle continued to address them.
“Interesting question. In our jungle, children
are the leaders of today! We will make our children
leaders by teaching the skills of leadership and
responsibility to them.”
94
The animals clapped, danced and celebrated
for a very long time. Cactapopo Jungle had found
another great king who would continue with what
King Rabbit had started. Finally, they sang the jungle
song and went to work on the fence.
We love the jungle,
We love each other,
We will protect our land,
Each one is useful,
Each one is lovely,
Each one deserves respect.
We got to be different x3
95
Chapter Review Questions
1. What two values does Honourable Cheetah
demonstrate?
2. What are the indicators that King Lion is a poor
leader?/What wrong things do we see King Lion
and his ministers doing?
3. What qualities make elephant a very effective
leader?
4. Why did King Lion not want to listen to the
opinion of other animals?
5. From warthog’s statement about life when rabbit
was king, what can we conclude about good
national leadership?
6. In our world today, what profession can we liken
the role of the crow to?
7. What in your opinion, inuenced King Beetle to
change his ways and mindset?
8. You may have heard of the expression; ‘When
life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ How is
this expression applicable in this chapter?
96
Chapter 7
As King Beetle sat on his throne to rest, he
suddenly realised that he needed a minister for public
work. The minister would oversee the allocation of
work by dividing the animals into different groups
and giving them specic duties. The king decided
to go out and watch the animals work. The most
hardworking one would be made the new minister
for work. Before he could leave, there was a knock
on his door. Buffalo informed him that there was a
group of ants who wanted to have a word with him.
“Send them in,” said King Beetle.
The ants came in, carrying packets of biscuits
on their shoulders.
“What a surprise,” said the king. “What are you
carrying biscuits for?”
“This is a gift to you,” said the ant leader. “We
decided that our king needed some special food.”
“That is a good thought,” said King Beetle. “Did
you make the biscuits yourselves?”
“Not really,” said the ant leader.
“Then you must have bought them.”
“Yes,” said the ant leader.
97
“You must have a lot of money,” observed the
king.
“We did not buy the biscuits, O king,” said one
of the ants. “We do not have any money. We stole
the biscuits from the humans.”
“Stealing is bad manners,” said the king. “I will
not accept such behaviour in the jungle. Did I ever
ask to be given biscuits? I am not the kind of king
who will be bribed using gifts. The best gift you can
give me is to work hard to improve the condition
of animals in the jungle.”
“We are sorry. It will never happen again,” said
the ant leader.
“What kind of manners do you have? You should
be ashamed of yourself? You stole the biscuits and
then lied to me. We do not want such behaviour in
our jungle.”
The king then told the ants to sit down so that
they could tell him what they had come for. The
ant leaders then told the king that they had come to
ask for a special favour. They had come to ask King
Beetle if he could make one of them a minister. This
is because ants felt that they had not been included
in the king’s government and yet they were insects
just like the king. The ant leader told the king that
the queen ant could make a very good minister for
insects.
98
When the ant leader nished speaking, King
Beetle was very angry and ordered the ants to leave
the palace. He then told Honourable Elephant to
blow the trumpet.
When all the animals had gathered at the river,
King Beetle told them that a very bad thing had
happened in the jungle. He told them of how some
ants had come to him with stolen biscuits so that
they could bribe him to make their queen a minister
for insects.
The ants who had attended the meeting trembled
with fear when all the animals looked at them.
The king then told the animals that every minister
was chosen because of their hard work and good
behaviour. No minister was chosen simply because
of being a mammal or a sh or a reptile. And no
minister was chosen just because they were the
friend of King Beetle.
“I want all of you to know that hard work, good
behaviour and great ideas are what make a good
leader,” said the king.
The animals clapped and cheered their king. The
king told them that he may be small, but he was not
stupid. Making queen ant a minister when all she
did was sit in her hole and lay eggs was not a wise
thing to do.
“Has any of you ever seen queen ant working?”
asked King Beetle.
99
“Has any of you ever seen queen ant working?”
100
“No!” shouted the animals in unison.
“Then I would be very unfair to make such an
animal a minister. A minister is a servant of the
other animals. You cannot be a servant if you cannot
work!”
The king told the animals that in human country,
ministers bought themselves big cars lived in big
houses and stole money meant to help the poor. They
did very little work but were paid huge salaries. The
ministers in the jungle were different. They worked
hard to make sure that all animals got their share
of food.
The animals clapped their paws and birds apped
their wings.
Lady swan lifted a wing and King Beetle allowed
her to speak.
“We are very happy to have such a wise king,”
said the swan. “I will work with all my heart to
make sure that our jungle becomes a better place. I
did not work very hard during King Rabbit’s time
because I did not think that a rabbit could be a king
but when I look around and see how the jungle has
become so green and full of fruit trees, I now know
that a good king is not one who has a big roar or a
big body. I have decided to work to make our jungle
even better.”
“Thank you, lady swan,” said King Beetle. “I am
happy to hear that you are ready to work. Let us all
101
work hard so that our young ones will have a better
life than we did. We can now all enjoy mangoes
and paw paws because of the work we did a few
years ago. We must not think of taking short cuts
like the ants. You cannot be a good leader if you do
not work.”
The ant leader lifted up his hand and the king
allowed him to speak.
The ant told the animals that he was very sorry
for what he had done. He promised to work hard
and to lead the ants in working for the jungle and
not just for themselves.
King Beetle then ended the meeting with the
jungle song and the animals went to work.
As the animals were leaving the meeting, they
were surprised to see four cars heading in the
direction of the palace. Honourable Elephant stood
in the way of the cars and blew a trumpet. Buffalo,
leopard and rhino also joined Honourable Elephant.
The people in the car got out led by Captain Califogy.
They did not carry big guns with them but some of
them had pistols hidden in their coat and trouser
pockets.
“What do you want in our jungle?” asked
Honourable Elephant. “All humans must pay to
enter the jungle.”
“We just came to congratulate the new king,”
said Captain Califogy. “We have heard that King
102
Beetle is the new king. We brought with us some
beetle food and wheat pellets.”
The humans were led by buffalo and rhino to
the palace after they were searched, and their pistols
taken. When they got to the palace, King Beetle kept
them waiting for two full hours as he was busy
having a meeting with the security team.
When the king nally met them, the humans
presented him with beetle food and wheat pellets.
“What a surprise,” said the king. “What are all
those boxes for?”
“This is a gift to you,” said Captain Califogy.
“We decided that the new king needed some special
food.”
“That is a good thought,” said King Beetle. “What
is that special food?”
“It’s a special meal for beetles made from a
mixture of chocolate and bread crumbs.”
“I am sure by now, the chocolate must have
melted, but I am not such a good eater of sugary
food. What brings you here?”
The humans explained that they had come to
congratulate the new king and to nd out if he
needed their help in any way. King Beetle told the
humans that the animals did not need help from
humans in any way and if they did need human help
in future, a minister would be sent to the human
country.
103
“We also wanted to know if the contract to
build the electric fence around the jungle was still
in place,” said Captain Califogy. “We have bought
all the materials that we need to build the fence.”
“All the contracts that you signed with King Lion
ended with lion. We will build our own fence,” said
King Beetle.
“That is not fair,” said Captain Califogy.
Unable to listen to the humans any more, King
Beetle told them to go away and forget about cutting
down jungle trees because the trees belonged to
the animals. They were forced to go away with the
beetle food and wheat pellets but before they could
leave the palace area, King Beetle gave them his
nal words.
“Next time, do not come bribing me with beetle
food or any such gifts. I am not like the lion who put
self-interest before the interests of the jungle. If you
want to bring me a gift in future, the best gift you
can give me is to work hard to improve the condition
of animals in the jungle. The animals did not elect
me so that I could become rich. They elected me so
that I could serve them.”
“How about the gold-plated den that we brought
King Lion?” asked Captain Califogy. “We were never
paid for the expensive masterpiece. We need it back.”
“That is none of my business. Your agreement
with the previous king was done without my
104
knowledge. I would never have approved of such
a thing. Go and sort it out with lion. He is in one of
your zoos. Let him pay you for the den. And please
leave before we change our minds and lock you up
in the den.”
The humans got into their cars and sped off after
being forced by Honourable Leopard to pay the
jungle entry fee and to collect the melted chocolate.
They were not given their pistols back because it
was against jungle laws for humans to come with
rearms into the jungle.
When the animals began to work, King Beetle
watched secretly from a distance. He saw that each
animal went to the place of work they wanted. To
his shock, he saw Honourable Elephant and lady
elephant go to the eld and uproot all the tree stumps
with their strong trunks. He was even more surprised
to see all the ants including the queen going to
the eld and breaking down the soil from the tree
stumps that Honourable Elephant had uprooted.
Honourable Buttery joined them and they started
talking about where to take the tree stumps. After
some discussion, they decided that the stumps could
be sold to humans so as to reduce the burden of
carrying them. Humans could come with their big
lorries and carry away the stumps and in exchange
they could supply ower seedlings. Lady Elephant
was so happy that she took some water from the
105
river with her trunk and splashed it on the trees. It
felt so good to have the sense of unity with fellow
animals and to work together by sharing ideas that
would improve the jungle.
King Beetle then moved to the fence and
watched as Honourable Cheetah led the animals
in planting the fence. The swan worked hard in
uprooting seedlings from other parts of the forest
and bringing them to the border where animals
such as gorilla, wildebeest, Honourable Beaver,
Honourable Chimpanzee, mongoose, gazelle and
the bear planted the seedlings in a row.
The king then moved on to the area where coffee
and carrots were to be planted. He was satised to see
Honourable Warthog, Lady Warthog, Honourable
Flamingo, eagle, crocodile and earthworm clearing
and working on the land. He wondered who would
bring the carrot and coffee seeds. As the king was
leaving, he was surprised to see a huge lorry coming
to the area where coffee and carrots were to be
planted. Honourable Leopard and the dragon y
were directing the people in the lorry. When they
got to the place where the animals were standing,
they opened the lorry and started removing the
coffee seedlings and packets containing carrot and
cabbage seeds. The lorry then went to the animal
dung collection point and the humans loaded all the
dung into the lorry. Honourable Buttery then talked
106
with the man in charge of the lorry and they agreed
to exchange the tree stumps with ower seedlings.
King Beetle was very happy when he went back
to the palace. No one had noticed him leaving and
the security team was very surprised to see him
returning. They had sent a few wasps and bees to
search for him, but they had returned without having
found the king.
“I was taking a look at how the work is going
on,” said King Beetle.
“You must never leave the palace without letting
the security team know,” said rhino rmly. “It makes
our work very difcult. What if anything would
happen to you?”
The buffalo explained to the king that once an
animal occupied the position of king, they were no
longer just a normal animal. They represented the
face of the jungle to the outside world. A king could
not put their life at risk because in doing so, they put
all animals at risk. In the same way, any animal who
insulted or put the life of the king at risk, insulted
all the animals in the jungle. The ofce of the king
was to be treated with total respect and his authority
was to be respected by all. This applied to all the
other authority in the jungle. Even the ministers
were simply discharging the delegated duties to
roles which the king ought to have been performing.
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“Do not worry,” said King Beetle. “I know that
you all mean well for the jungle. I was wrong in what
I did. Next time I will inform the security team of
my whereabouts any time I am leaving the palace.”
For the next three years, the work in the jungle
went on very well. The owers made the jungle very
beautiful which increased the number of tourists. The
bees began to produce more honey and animals who
worked well were given a leaf of honey each week.
Competitions began in the eld and the animals
had so much fun. To keep the cheetah from always
winning the short races, they made all animals run
in pairs with their legs tied together. With time, they
grouped the animals according to their kind and
had races for the cats, for the big animals, for the
small animals and also for the birds. The animals
who lived in water also had their own competitions
which made the sh feel that they were part and
parcel of the jungle. On occasion, some of the land
animals got into the river and lake so as to compete
with the water animals. When it came to swimming,
Honourable Cheetah was no match for the gifted
crocodile.
The fence round the jungle was completed in
two years and the animals enjoyed protection from
greedy humans. The carrots and cabbages that had
been planted grew and were shared amongst the
animals.
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The fame of King Beetle spread to distant jungles
and human country such that many ministers from
foreign lands were sent to Cactapopo Jungle so as to
learn the secrets of what had led to the successful
growth of the jungle economy.
Under the leadership of King Beetle, the animals
set new records of achievement. The tortoise was able
to run faster than the elephant in some races. The
Honourable Warthog became the new swimming
champion. All the animals began to take a morning
jog which made them healthier and more active
during the day. King Beetle encouraged all the
animals to try doing something new every year.
When porcupine challenged Honourable Cheetah
to a race, the animals thought that porcupine was
joking. But unknown to them, porcupine had been
training for two hours every day for the past two
years. He would run up the hill and also try running
under the water. Sometimes, the porcupine would
run backwards or tie a stone to his stomach while
training. He became very fast and had managed
to outrun zebra. Honourable cheetah accepted
porcupine’s challenge and the animals gathered to
watch the race. Giraffe also decided to join the race
even though he had not been training.
When sparrow blew the whistle, the three animals
ran with all their might. Honourable Cheetah won
the race but had to really put in some extra effort
109
because porcupine was very close behind him.
Giraffe was left far behind the two animals. He
nished the race two minutes after porcupine. The
animals were very shocked that porcupine could
actually run faster than giraffe. King Beetle gave
porcupine a calabash of honey and all the animals
clapped. More animals began to train to do different
things and to develop their talents.
However, zebra complained to lady zebra that
porcupine was just showing off. The tick overheard
this and waited until zebra lay down on the grass
before approaching him.
“Did you hear what King Beetle said about you?”
“No, I did not,” answered zebra.
“He said that you are the most useless election
ofcial to ever walk the face of the earth.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He even told me that you should not be an
election ofcial. That you cannot even count your
own stripes, leave alone election votes.”
“That’s so unfair of the small king,” said zebra
bitterly.
“Don’t worry my friend,” whispered the tick.
“I’m the only one who believes in you.”
“Thank you so much, my friend, I do not know
what I could do without you.”
“You can count on me,” whispered the tick as
he drank a little of zebra’s blood. The zebra felt a
110
little pain but allowed the tick to drink a few more
drops of blood.
“You have the sweetest blood in the jungle. Let
me go and sleep a little. Please don’t tell any animal
about our conversation.”
The tick then went to the giraffe and requested
to tell him something important. The giraffe bent his
head down and allowed the tick to hop on to his ear.
“You will not believe what King Beetle said about
you,” began the tick.
“What did he say?” asked giraffe.
“He said that you have a very small brain inside
your small head. I heard him telling his wife that
you are a poor election ofcial and that your height
is inversely proportional to your intelligence.”
“Oh my goodness,” moaned the giraffe. “That
small insect is unt to be king.”
“He thinks that your head is not proportional to
your body. He said that you look like a contraption.”
“Gosh, what is a contraption?”
“You don’t want to know. It’s the worst name
that you can ever be called.”
“I will go and deal with that small contraption
of a king,” said giraffe angrily.
“Don’t go now,” pleaded the tick. “I will tell you
when the rhino and buffalo are sleeping. If you go
now, you will be attacked by the strong bodyguards.
You may be tall, but you are not strong.”
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“I guess you are right,” said giraffe. “When you
catch those fat animals sleeping, please let me know.”
“I will,” said the tick as he drank a little of
giraffe’s blood. “Just know that I value you very
much. You have the potential to be king. Your blood
tastes like royalty. Please don’t tell any animal about
our conversation.”
“Thanks a lot. It’s good to have a friend like you.”
The tick then approached Honourable Cheetah.
“Do you know what the little king said about
you?” asked the tick.
“I really do not want to listen to gossip,” said
Honourable Cheetah. “He may be little, but he is
still the king. The effectiveness of a leader cannot
be measured using physical stature. Do you think
that you would make a better king?”
“Don’t you want to hear what the king said about
you?” asked the tick.
“I think that the king can tell me what he thinks
about me without using you as a messenger. Why
don’t we go to the king right now and you can tell
him what he said about me?”
“I think you don’t like me,” said the tick.
“You have a very shallow reasoning capacity
and a very bad attitude. Get away from me, little
animal. You do not walk in the light. Your intention
is obviously not good and evidently you do not seek
the good of our jungle. I will never stoop down to
112
your level. The king is not divisive or a busybody
like you. Be very much ashamed of yourself.”
The tick walked away in shame, hid himself in
a hole and cried bitterly. Ant who happened to be
working in the hole told the tick that Honourable
Cheetah was right. Unable to bear his sorrow, the
tick went and buried himself in a heap of dung.
In the course of time, Honourable Buttery
approached King Beetle and informed him of an
idea that he had been thinking of. Honourable
Buttery told the king that the committee that had
been appointed to shortlist candidates wishing to
participate in the elections had failed in their duty.
By allowing lion to be one of the candidates in the
previous elections, the committee had failed because
lion did not meet all the necessary qualications. To
prevent such a thing from ever happening again,
Honourable Buttery recommended two things. One
of them was that there needed to be a leadership
school in the jungle and a new law that made it
impossible for an animal to be a king if they had not
been trained in the school of leadership. The other
recommendation was that the committee that had
been appointed to shortlist animals that qualied
to be king should be investigated and possibly
restructured if found guilty of negligence.
The king loved his minister’s ideas. He called all
the ministers together and after some discussion,
113
they all agreed that Honourable Buttery’s ideas
were very good for the jungle. Honourable elephant
was given the task of setting up a leadership school
and to develop a training course that would equip
the animals with leadership skills. A new law was
written down which made it a requirement to have
all future candidates wishing to be king, go through
the leadership training course in the new school of
leadership. The intelligence team was also given
the responsibility of investigating the conduct of
committee members responsible for shortlisting
election candidates during the previous elections.
Investigations revealed that giraffe had been given
wheat pellets by the lion so as not to strike him out of
the contest. The tortoise and zebra had complained to
committee members about lion’s bad habit of using
lies to discredit his opponent, but giraffe had said
that a little lying was not a very bad thing as long
as it did not hurt anyone.
When King Beetle was given the report on
giraffe’s conduct, he called a meeting and in the
presence of all the animals demoted giraffe from
being the head of the election committee. He
replaced giraffe with zebra. The king informed the
jungle community that giraffe had received wheat
pellets from lion which obscured his vision and
twisted his sense of judgement. This had caused
him to turn a blind eye on lion who was using lies
114
and half-truths in the campaign period to inuence
the animals vote for him.
The animals came up with a law that set a new
form of punishment for a jungle animal caught
abusing their position of authority. Any animal
found to have misused their powers for their own
selsh ends was required to get into the dung pit
and roll in the dung for half a day.
Giraffe was thoroughly embarrassed when all
the jungle animals laughed as he rolled in the dung.
It took a whole week for the smell of dung to leave
his body. Most animals avoided making physical
contact with him for the duration of the week. Even
lady giraffe kept away from her husband. When one
week was over, giraffe was made to openly apologise
to all the animals for having received a bribe and
for failing in his duty.
115
Chapter Review Questions
1. Ants present a gift to King Beetle. Why does the
king not accept the gift?
2. How relevant is the ministerial position that ants
wanted created?
3. How would you describe the mood, attitude and
state of the animals as they worked?
4. In one or two words, how can you describe tick’s
behaviour? Give a reason for this.
5. What is the impact of tick’s behaviour upon the
jungle?
6. Discuss the response of zebra and giraffe. How
does it contribute to the objective of the tick?
116
Chapter 8
When the coffee trees grew and started to produce
coffee seeds, King Beetle told Honourable Elephant,
rhino and buffalo to crush the seeds into powder.
The powder was then thrown into the river so that
animals could drink avoured water. Unfortunately,
the coffee made the water very bitter for the sh
and the river animals. The water turned brown in
colour. Some of the young sh and tadpoles died
from the coffee powder. Kingsher took advantage
of the situation and ate some of the dead sh. Many
of the river animals complained and talked about
replacing King Beetle.
“We need our own king,” said the tilapia sh.
“Our little ones have died and this water is terrible.”
The dead sh being swept down into the ocean
made some meat-eating sh that lived in the ocean
to swim into the river. The piranhas swam upstream
and ate all the dead sh they met. After eating the
dead sh, they also attacked the living sh and
chased them with the intention of eating them.
The sh cried out, but the land animals could
not hear their cry. It was crocodile who saw the
117
piranhas chasing the river sh such as tilapia and
rushed out of the river to report the matter to the
security minister. Honourable Leopard jumped into
the river hoping to chase the piranhas away but
they bit him and made him swim out of the water.
Honourable Leopard ran to the king and told
him about how several sh had lost their lives. The
king asked Honourable Elephant to blow the trumpet
and the animals gathered by the river. They were
all shocked to see the piranhas.
“We have a new threat from the ocean,” said the
king. “We must deal with the piranhas.”
“If you give us permission, we will eat the
piranhas alive,” said the eagle.
“According to our laws, is it right to take the life
of another animal?” asked King Beetle.
Before any animal could respond, one piranha
jumped out of the river and gave giraffe a bite on
the leg. Giraffe started bleeding and crying loudly.
Other piranhas also tried to jump out of the water
with the intention of biting the animals standing
near the shore, making the animals run away in fear.
The animals had to move their meeting to another
place. Many of the animals were very sad that the
king did not seem to be in control of the situation
or to care about the dead animals.
Unable to resist the temptation, eagle and lady
eagle jumped into the river and caught two piranhas.
118
The piranhas were removed out of the water and
left on dry land. They started screaming for help
and apologising to the animals.
“Please take us back to the river or we will die,”
they cried. “We will all go back to the ocean.”
“You must die,” shouted the giraffe to the
piranhas.
“Take the piranhas back to the river!” ordered
the king.
Unable to hide his anger, giraffe stepped on one
of the piranhas who gave a loud cry.
The leopard stood, picked the remaining piranha
and threw him into the river. Giraffe refused to let
the other piranha go.
“We want a new king!” said giraffe. “King Beetle
has failed as a leader.”
“We want a new king!” shouted the animals.
“Let us make giraffe the new king,” suggested
the peacock.
“Let us make giraffe the new king,” repeated
the parrot.
“You can have a new king if you wish,” said King
Beetle. “But as long as I am king, no animal shall be
put to death. Can giraffe let go of the piranha now!”
“I will not,” said the giraffe.
Without warning, the wasps stung giraffe in the
ears and made him let go of the piranha.
119
“You can have a new king if you wish,” said King Beetle.
120
Honourable Leopard picked up the piranha and
threw him into the river.
“Before you can dethrone me, let me tell you
one or two things. A king is a servant of the jungle
animals, but he must be respected by all. I do not
get moved by noises or pressure from the crowd. I
act according to my inner convictions.”
The giraffe tried to come near the king, but
buffalo lowered his head and blew a very loud
whistle. Rhino also lowered his head, stamped his
feet and blew dust into the air.
When the animals were all quiet, the king
apologised to them for having brought trouble
upon the jungle.
“Yes, I have made a mistake,” said King Beetle.
“I do not pretend to be perfect. If you feel that my
mistake disqualies me from being the king, you can
make giraffe your king. Let me correct giraffe and
set the record straight; I have not failed as a leader.
Failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an
important part of success if you learn from it.”
The animals nodded their heads in agreement.
The snail raised his tentacles up and was allowed
to speak.
“Please explain to me what conviction means,”
he requested. “You are using very difcult words.”
“Conviction means your deep inner voice. It is
that part of you that makes big difcult decisions,”
121
said Honourable Elephant. “One of the things we
are doing in the animal school is to help our young
ones to develop a deep conviction about what is
right or wrong.”
King Beetle continued with his speech after
thanking Honourable Elephant for the great answer.
“I have done many good things for our jungle,
but because of one big mistake, you want to turn
our jungle into a mess. Aren’t our laws clear that
no animal should eat or kill another animal? I am
aware that our law also says that any animal who
tries to bring trouble and disunity in the jungle and
who does not obey the laws of the jungle must be
put in a cage and locked up in human zoos. Lastly,
I know that anyone seen killing, eating or chasing
with the aim of eating another animal must be put
to death.”
“Exactly,” said the giraffe. “The piranhas are
guilty of chasing other animals with the intention
of eating them.”
“Where are your manners?”
“I am sorry for interrupting the king,” said the
giraffe
“Are the piranhas aware of our laws?”
“No,” responded the animals.
“We will need to train them.”
The animals went back to the river and discovered
that the piranhas had left. King Beetle apologised
122
to the sh for having instructed the animals to add
coffee to the river. The animals forgave the king and
also apologised for having lost respect. To prevent
the piranhas from ever returning to the river, the
animals laid twigs, branches and trees at the point
where the river entered the ocean, leaving only a
small outlet for the water to ow through.
The Honourable Buttery suggested to the king
that the animals could benet greatly from the coffee
plants if they could sell the coffee to humans.
“We can even sell the humans coffee made
from the civet cat’s dung,” suggested Honourable
Buttery. “It is a very expensive type of coffee.”
“Very interesting,” said the king. “I have heard
that civet cats live in Indopoopa Jungle. Are we able
to convince them to travel thousands of kilometres
to join us?”
“There is no harm in trying to persuade the
civet cats to join us,” said Honourable Flamingo.
“The civet cats are also called coffee cats because
they love eating coffee. We have enough coffee to
convince them to join us.”
The king was excited about the new possibilities.
He allowed Honourable Buttery and Honourable
Flamingo to go and convince the coffee cat and his
family to move to Cactapopo Jungle.
When Honourable Flamingo and Honourable
Buttery arrived at Indopoopa Jungle where the coffee
123
cat lived after ying for ten hours, they wasted no
time. They went to where the coffee cat lived and told
him that they had a lot of coffee in Cactapopo Jungle
which could feed him and his family for many years.
The coffee cat was willing to go to Cactapopo Jungle
but said that it was too far away. He had ve small
kittens who could not travel very long distances. He
also had six brothers and ten cousins who had small
kittens too. In total, there were two hundred coffee
cats in Indopoopa Jungle. Honourable Flamingo told
them about the good life in Cactapopo Jungle and
they all longed to go there since Indopoopa Jungle
had become very dirty with animal dung spread
all over the jungle.
Honourable Buttery and Honourable Flamingo
returned to Cactapopo Jungle and told the king and
the ministers about the meeting with coffee cats.
Honourable Warthog raised his paw and was
allowed to talk. He said that the best way to transport
the cats from Indopoopa Jungle was to use a lorry or
a helicopter. The animals decided that a helicopter
might be too expensive. A lorry would be the best
way to transport the cats. The king called all the
animals to a meeting and told them about the new
plan. The animals were very happy. The coffee could
bring them a lot of fame and new things.
The giraffe lifted up his hand and said that rather
than bringing coffee cats into the jungle, the animals
124
could eat the coffee and produce dung which the
humans could buy and make coffee from. Why
should coffee from coffee cat dung be more special
than coffee from zebra or giraffe dung?
“The humans are not that stupid,” said
Honourable Leopard to the giraffe. “If they want
coffee from cat dung, they will not drink coffee
from skunk dung. You know our dungs don’t look
or smell the same.”
“Giraffe dung smells worse than mine,” said
skunk and the animals laughed.
“Why not just sell coffee as it is?” asked frog.
“Because dung coffee is a hundred times more
expensive than normal coffee,” answered the buffalo.
After a long talk, the animals agreed to bring the
cats from Indopoopa Jungle. King Beetle made lady
swan the minister for coffee production and queen
ant the minister for public work after the ministers
had reported that swan and the queen ant were
very hardworking. Honourable Swan could now
start the process of selling coffee and planning for
the transportation of the coffee cats.
After the lorry owner agreed to carry the coffee
cats from Indopoopa Jungle in exchange for one lorry
full of cat dung coffee, the cats were nally brought
to Cactapopo Jungle.
The animals welcomed the cats and gave them
coffee seeds as a snack. Honourable Leopard was
125
given the responsibility of showing the cats around
the jungle and helping them settle with their kittens
but since it was getting dark, he decided to take
them around during the day.
That night, the animals were woken up by shouts
from the squirrels and the sparrows in the trees.
It was discovered that the cats had tried to chase
and eat the sparrows and squirrels. Honourable
Leopard told them that one of the jungle laws was
that anyone seen killing, eating or chasing with the
aim of eating another animal must be put to death.
The coffee cats complained that such laws were
unfair to meat eating animals.
“I am a meat eating animal too,” said Honourable
Leopard to them. “How would you feel if I ate all
of you?”
“That’s not fair,” said the coffee cat leader.
“If any of you eats another animal, I will eat them
alive. Now go to sleep.”
The coffee cats slept but the squirrels and
sparrows stayed awake all night. In the morning,
Honourable Leopard called all the coffee cats for a
meeting. In the meeting, leopard told the cats about
the laws in the jungle. He told them that killing other
animals was a big crime because it was very unfair
to the animal being killed. No animal in the jungle
wanted to be eaten. The cats had to learn how to
eat wheat pellets, fruits, carrots and honey. Some
126
kittens started crying and were taken to the animal
nursery school.
“We want to go back to our jungle,” said the cat
leader.
“We can allow you to go after you produce
enough coffee dung to pay for the lorry that brought
you here. And after that you must produce more
coffee dung to pay for the lorry that will take you
back. We will not ask you to produce some coffee
dung to pay for the food that you have eaten in our
jungle because we are generous animals.”
The coffee cats decided to produce enough coffee
dung to ll two lorries after which they would
leave Cactapopo Jungle. Their dung was dropped
in a separate part of the jungle and not mixed with
that from the rest of the animals. They refused to
intermingle with the rest of the animals and lived in
the coffee garden eating as much coffee as possible.
The kittens were however trained by Honourable
Elephant assisted by tortoise. They were trained on
how to respect the king, how to treat all animals with
respect, how to read and write and how to be good
leaders. The kittens enjoyed life in the nursery and
the honey and wheat pellets that they were given at
break time. They were taught jungle laws and they
got to play games with other animals.
After two months in the jungle, the coffee cats
had produced enough coffee dung to ll up two
127
lorries. It was time to go back to Indopoopa Jungle. The
kittens who had by now grown up to be much bigger
cats refused to leave Cactapopo Jungle. When the
parents realised that the kittens were not interested
in leaving, they decided to have a meeting with the
king.
The cats were taken to the palace by Honourable
Leopard. The king welcomed them to the palace and
served them lots of coffee. They told the king that
they felt that they had been tricked into coming to
Cactapopo Jungle. They felt exploited because they
had been brought to the new jungle because of their
ability to make expensive coffee. King Beetle told
them that he was very sorry if that was what they
felt. He told them that back in Indopoopa Jungle, their
expensive dung only benetted humans. The humans
sold it and the cats were never paid anything for it.
He also told them that in Cactapopo Jungle, the cats
would become part of the jungle and would enjoy
better living conditions and have more food and
friends they would work with. The cats agreed that
the king was right, but they wanted to know how
they would be paid for their coffee dung if they
decided to stay and not to leave.
The king and the cats agreed that any income that
was received from the sale of dung coffee would be
shared with the cats. The cats would receive a quarter
of all the income. They were very happy. From that
128
day onwards, the older cats began to eat pellets and
fruits. They were also happy at the training that
the kittens were receiving. The kittens were more
respectful and obedient to their parents. They were
also more creative and could compose poems and
songs. Honourable Leopard, trained the older cats
on the laws of the jungle after which each cat was
given work to do by Honourable Ant.
Within the next two years that beetle was king,
the jungle grew more than ever before. The new
coffee made the humans pay the animals so much
money that the animals could now buy land to
expand their jungle. They bought twice as much
land and planted a fence and tree seedlings. The
owers grew and multiplied, and the bees had
more food than they needed. They invited their
cousins from Indopoopa Jungle who came and had
to be trained on the laws of the jungle. At rst the
new bees did not want to share their honey with
the rest of the animals but after some training, they
had no problem with making honey to share with
others. King Beetle made an agreement with them
that they could keep a quarter of all the honey that
they produced. The production of honey increased,
and all animals began to enjoy a calabash of honey
instead of the daily leaf of honey.
There was more food than the animals could
eat and some of it had to be sold to humans. All the
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animals were happy. Even the tilapias and frogs that
had lost their young ones when coffee powder was
poured into the river could now enjoy more wheat
pellets, fruits and honey.
When King Beetle announced that he would be
stepping down as king, the animals would hear none
of it. Giraffe said that the laws must be changed to
allow the king to continue for another ve years if
all animals felt that way. All the animals agreed with
giraffe. The king said that another animal needed to
be given a chance to lead but the animals refused to
listen to the king. That night, the king removed his
royal robe and crown, and ew into the darkness.
The next morning, the animals searched for the
king but could not nd him. The elephant blew the
trumpet and told the animals that they must move on
with life. The king’s wish must be respected, and it
was necessary to elect a new leader. The Honourable
Elephant informed the animals that before he left,
King Beetle had told the ministers that laws must
never be made for the benet of one or a few animals
but rather for the benet of the entire jungle. King
Beetle had felt that the decision to make a new law
that would have allowed him to rule for another
ve years was made with one animal in mind, much
as it might have brought benet to the jungle. The
animals understood the wisdom of King Beetle and
embarked on the process of electing a new king.
130
Chapter Review Questions
1. In your view, did King Beetle fail as a leader?
2. By apologising to the animals, was King Beetle
a weak leader?
3. Why did the animals use a lorry and not a
helicopter to transport the coffee cats from
Indopoopa Jungle to their jungle?
4. Why did the newcomers have to be trained about
the laws of the jungle?
5. Do you agree with giraffe that the law should be
changed to allow King Beetle to continue leading
the animals for another ve years?
6. Do you think that giraffe might have held a
grudge against the king?
131
• Help shape young minds on how to be credible
leaders, how to choose credible leaders and how
to be governed by the rule of law in going about
the election process.
• To inculcate good leadership qualities and a sense
of patriotism and vision in young minds.
• Introduce the learner to global issues such as the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHRs), Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), democratic ideals as well as important
economic concepts such as resource allocation,
Economic Growth, Value added and International
trade.
• Train the learner to uphold positive values by
confronting negative moral codes in society such
as corruption, bribery and tribalism.
• Help shape young minds on seeing challenges
as opportunities rather than as obstacles and to
equip the learner with resilience so as to help
them bounce back when tragedy or negative
circumstances strike.
• Help inspire young minds on the value of great
Objectives of the Book
132
ideas and elevate their mindsets to those of
innovators and solution providers.
• Instill in the young minds by way of vivid
examples, ALL the Kenya national values
enshrined in the constitution as well as values
that enhance character development.
• Create a case for the evaluation of leaders against
the background of integrity, vision and a sound
development record.
• Highlight the role that self–interest, corruption
and greed play in taking a nation down the road
of underdevelopment and social injustice and help
the learner develop an internal cultural software
or mechanism that detests and resists corruption.
• Present irrefutable proof that seless and visionary
leadership is the basis upon which a nation can
achieve lasting stability and sustainable growth.
• Present to the learner a strong moral example
of why it is more important to turn down short
term personal gain in the pursuit of the greater
gain of the nation or of character development.
• Develop in the learner the aspiration to live a life
governed by conscience and principles so that
the pursuit of high ideals becomes a way of life.
• Portray to the young learner that populism is
temporary and transitory. A leader must stand
their ground and follow their conviction even if
it means losing their position.
133
Vocabulary
assassination the murder usually of a well-known
individual by sudden or secret attack
often for political reasons
bellowed shouted something with a deep loud
voice
compassionate showing sympathy and concern
for others
constitution a statement of the basic principles
and laws of a country or group
constitution a statement of the basic principles
and laws of a country or group.
contraption something that appears strange or
unnecessarily complicated, and is
often badly made or unsafe
corrupt having a willingness to act dishonestly
in return for money or personal gain
courage bravery. Showing mental or moral
strength in the face of danger, pain
or difculty
dethrone remove from power or position of
authority
dignity the state or quality of being worthy
134
of honour or respect
dimwits a stupid or silly person
endeavor an attempt to achieve a goal
freedom the power or right to do, speak, or
think as one wants
greedy having a selsh desire or appetite for
food, wealth or power
injustice lack of fairness
laws a system of rules which a particular
community develops and uses to
regulate the actions of its members.
loathsome extremely unpleasant
mammal a warm-blooded animal of a class that
is covered with hair or fur. Females
produce milk for the nourishment
of the young, and give birth to live
young ones
manifesto a written statement by a person or
group of people declaring publicly
what their objectives and policies are.
menacingly giving you a feeling that they are
likely to cause harm or put you in
danger
patriotism the feeling of loving your country
more than any others and being
proud of it
persuade cause someone to do something
through reasoning or argument
135
policies a set of ideas or rules that determine
the course of action for a group of
individuals
quills the hollow sharp spines of a porcupine
reign rule over a kingdom or in position
above others
reptile a cold-blooded animal of a class that
has scales or plates. Females lay eggs.
reservoirs large dams or lakes where water is
collected and stored for use
respect a feeling of deep admiration for
someone or something due to their
position, abilities, qualities, or
achievements
scumbags an individual who has done something
unacceptable and who deserves to be
treated with hatred and contempt.
servant leadership is a leadership style in
which the goal of the leader is to
serve
shore the land along the edge of a sea, lake,
or other large body of water.
skunk a cat-sized mammal with black-and-
white striped fur. When threatened it
produces a foul-smelling liquid from
its anal glands and sprays it towards
its attacker
stature an individual’s natural height
136
thunderous extremely loud
treason the crime of betraying one’s country,
especially by attempting to kill or
remove the leaders or government
from ofce
trivialised made something seem less important
values principles or standards of behaviour
vision the ability to think about or plan for
the future with imagination
wisdom the quality of having good judgement
or putting knowledge to good use
wobbled moved unsteadily from side to side