The Lions' War

The Lions' War

Chapter 1:  The Beginning



Believe it or not, it started as a misunderstanding between the best of friends a long, long time ago.  You are probably wondering how a misunderstanding between two best friends could cause such a terrible war so many years later, but it did.  It just goes to show hurt feelings sure can carry a lot of weight.  Hurt feelings can be as heavy as an elephant on your back.  And if you're not real careful that heavy elephant of hurt feelings can roll off your back and cause everyone in its path to be crushed like ants under a big man's shoe.

Zanzi was a lion born into the Navi pride.  Mawla was a lion born into the Pika pride.  Both of these lion cubs were adventurous and liked to wander further than their parents wanted them to.  That's how they found each other.    They were both exploring the edge of their pride lands, exactly where they were NOT supposed to be.

There they were, both crouching down in the tall golden grass, stalking their unsuspecting prey - a spotted brown moth just trying to find a safe place to land.  The spotted brown moth chose a tall rounded boulder to sit on while he let his weary wings rest.  As soon as all six of the spotted brown moth's legs landed on the boulder both lion cubs pounced to catch him.  Zanzi pounced from the west side of the boulder and Mawla pounced from the east side of the boulder.

It was a crazy commotion, one that the spotted brown moth was happy about it because he was able to escape during the confusion.

"Hey, that was my spotted brown moth," said Zanzi with his mad voice.

"Nuh uh, I saw him first! He was MY spotted brown moth," said Mawla with is mad voice too.

The spotted brown moth was hiding in the tall golden grass a few feet away from the lion cubs.  He was waiting for them both to go away so he could fly back home.  When he heard the two lion cubs arguing he thought to himself, "This is an easy fight to resolve.  I don't belong to either one of them.  I belong to me."  But he did not want to try to explain that to the two lion cubs that were way bigger than him.

The spotted brown moth was tired of listening to the lion cubs' argument and decided to take his chances and fly home.  As he moved his wings and started to rise up both lion cubs saw him and paused their fighting.  They were too late; the spotted brown moth was out of reach and on his way home.

Zanzi and Mawla quietly watched the brown spotted moth fly away.  When the brown spotted moth was too far away to look at anymore the lion cubs were forced to look at each other.

"He was too small anyways," said Zanzi.

"Yeah, he was kind of small," Mawla agreed.

Then they both smiled at each other and it was the beginning of a great friendship.



Chapter 2 - Good Reasons

Zanzi and Mawla decided to meet every day at the tall rounded boulder so they could play and practice hunting together.  They had to keep these meetings a secret though.  The Navi and Pika prides were not supposed to be friends.  They were not huge enemies, like some of the other lion prides, but they were not supposed to be friends with one another.

One day Zanzi asked his parents why the Navi and Pika prides were not supposed to be friends.

"Why can't our pride be friends with the Pika pride?" Zanzi asked his dad.

"Well, it's just always been that way.  As long as I can remember it's been this way," Zanzi's dad replied.

"But why?  Why has it always been this way?" Zanzi really wanted to know.

"It just has.  Stop asking questions. Go outside and play." His dad sounded annoyed.

As Zanzi slowly made his way outside of the cave he heard his mom's sweet voice.

"He's only trying to understand."

"I know, but he won't understand.  It won't be a good reason to him.  It's not a reason he can understand right now," his dad said to his mom.

So that's why his dad could not explain it to Zanzi.  He didn't really have a good reason.

He ran to the tall rounded boulder to meet Mawla.  He could not wait to give him the good news.  As he got closer to their meeting place he could see Mawla was already there and it made him run even faster.

"Hey, you're late.  What happened?  And why are you running so fast?  Is something wrong?" asked Mawla in his worried voice.

"I... dad... no good reason..." Zanzi was trying to explain, but was out of breath from running.

"Slow down buddy, just catch your breath, drink some water, and then tell me," Mawla patted his friend on the back and led him to the big watering hole near the tall rounded boulder.

"Thanks Mawla.  I'm sorry I'm late.  I was asking my dad to explain to me why the Navi and Pika prides can't be friends.  And guess what," Zanzi said with excitement.

"What?" asked Mawla who was getting excited too.

"Dad couldn't explain it to me.  Isn't that great?"  Zanzi had a big grin on his face.

Mawla looked at Zanzi, tilted his head, and scratched behind his ears.  He didn't get it.

"What's so great about that exactly?" Mawla had to ask even though he felt kind of dumb.

"Don't you see, if my dad, king of the Navi pride doesn't even know how to explain to me why we can't be friends with the Pica pride then there must not be a good reason.  That means there is no good reason why you and I can't be best friends," Zanzi explained with happiness.

"Ohhh, I see.  That makes perfect sense."  Mawla was pleased about this good news.

Zanzi's father had always taught him that there needs to be a good reason for the things that you do or don't do.  For example, lions hunt other animals because they need to eat them to live.  That's a very good reason to hunt.  A lion should not kill an animal just for fun because that is not a good reason.

So Zanzi felt relieved that there was really no good reason that he and Mawla should not be friends, best friends.  Still he decided to keep it a secret from his parents just in case.

Mawla was curious about what his dad; king of the Pika tribe would say if he asked why the Niva and Pika prides couldn't be friends so one day he asked him.

"Dad, why aren't the Niva and Pika prides friends with each other?" Mawla asked.

"Well, they just aren't son," his dad said.

"But why not?  Is there a good reason?" Mawla really wanted to know.

Mawla watched his dad make his eye brows wrinkle up like he does when he is thinking.  It took a few seconds before his dad's eyebrows unwrinkled and he spoke up.

"Well son, they are just different from us and it is better for us to keep separate," his dad finally said.

Mawla thought about his best friend Zanzi.  He had the same fur that he had, just a little darker in color.  He had the same paws that he had.  He had the same tail that he had.  He even had the same eyes, nose, and ears that he had.  Mawla didn't get what was so different.  So he decided to ask.

"How are they different?" Mawla really needed to know.

Mawla watched his dad's eye brows wrinkle up again.  His dad looked over at his mom.  His mom just shrugged her shoulders.  His dad's mouth frowned.

"Why do you want to know all of this Mawla?" his dad asked frustrated.

"I just don't understand why we can't be friends.  I don't understand why we don't like lions that we don't even know.  And I don't understand what is so different about them?" Mawla hoped he wasn't making his dad angry with all his questions.  His dad had a really scary roar when he was angry.

"Alright Mawla, I will tell you.  Listen closely as I try to explain this.  The Navi pride worships the sun and our pride worships the moon.  That is how we are different," his dad quietly said.

"What does 'worship' mean dad?" Mawla asked.

"Worship means you put all your faith and trust in something.  It is a part of your religion.  The Navi lions are sun worshippers; that is their religion.  We are moon worshippers; that is our religion.  We can't be friends with them because our religions are too different."

"Oh.  Okay dad."

Mawla still didn't really understand, but he was afraid to keep asking questions.  He decided he would bring all this information to his best friend Zanzi and they would figure it all out together tomorrow.



Chapter 3 - The Sun and the Moon

 

Mawla explained to Zanzi everything he learned from his dad.  He explained how Zanzi's pride worshipped the sun and his pride worshipped the moon and that's why they weren't supposed to be friends, because of their religion.

Zanzi listened to everything Mawla had to say, but it didn't make a lot of sense to him.  It just made him sad.  Zanzi didn't care if Mawla worshipped the moon instead of the sun.  Wasn't the moon just as important as the sun anyways?  Zanzi just wanted Mawla to be his best friend and hunt and play together every day.

Mawla and Zanzi sat side by side on the tall rounded boulder.  Neither one of them said anything because they were just too sad to talk.  They sat on the boulder until the sun started to go down and the moon started to rise up.  And that's when Zanzi had the best idea in his whole lion cub life.

"Hey Mawla, look at the sky, do you see it?" Zanzi asked with excitement.

Mawla looked up at the sky and saw the sun and the moon, the source of all their troubles.  It made him even sadder.

"Yes, I see it.  The sun and the moon.  I don't like either of them anymore," Mawla said with a big sigh.

"But Mawla, look, the sky is big enough to hold both of them.  We can start our own religion.  We can worship both, the sun and the moon.  That way we can still be best friends because we will be the same religion."

Zanzi was right.  The sky was big enough to hold the sun and moon at the same time.  It was a great idea.  They would just worship both and then they could stay best friends.  Mawla was happy again and very proud of his friend for solving their problem.

Mawla gave his best friend Zanzi a big lion hug and the two laughed and played together a few more minutes before they had to run home.  They didn't want to get in trouble for staying out after dark.

The next day Mawla came up with his own great idea.  Before Zanzi met him at the tall rounded boulder Mawla decided to paint a picture of half the sun and half the moon and made them join together in the middle.  The left side of the picture was the sun and the right side of the picture was the moon.  It would be the symbol of their new religion.  Mawla could not wait for Zanzi to see his work of art that he painted on their tall rounded boulder.

Mawla got a huge smile on his face when he saw his friend get closer and closer to their secret meeting place.

"Hello Mawla, why is your smile so much bigger this morning?" Zanzi asked his friend.

"You'll see," Mawla said with an even bigger smile on his face.

Mawla kept waiting for Zanzi to notice his beautiful painting on the tall rounded boulder but Zanzi just stared at Mawla with his head tilted.  Finally Mawla decided to just point at his painting.

"Ta-daaaa," Mawla said while pointing his paw at the painting.

"Wow!  That is so awesome Mawla!  I love it!  It's perfect!  Well almost perfect.  It just needs one more thing," Zanzi said smiling.

Mawla frowned a little because he worked really hard on his painting and wanted Zanzi to love it as much as he did.

"Give me your paw," Zanzi said to Mawla.

Mawla gave Zanzi his paw and then Zanzi dipped it in the leftover paint and put it under the painting on the tall rounded boulder.

"There, now it's perfect.  It needed the artist's autograph," Zanzi said.

Mawla smiled.  It made him really happy to see his paw print under his painting.  But he felt the painting still needed one more thing.

"I think the painting needs just one more thing," said Mawla to Zanzi.

Then Mawla grabbed Zanzi's paw, dipped it in the left over paint and placed the painted paw right beside his painted paw print.

"Now it really is perfect," Mawla smiled at his friend.

Mawla and Zanzi stared at their new religion symbol for a long time and then ran around until the paint came off their paws.  They did not want to have to explain to their parents why their paws had paint on them.

It had been a great day and both the lion cubs were so happy they could still be best friends.

Chapter 4 - The Misunderstanding



Zanzi and Mawla had good day after good day.  They played and practiced hunting all the time.  They both got bigger and stronger and faster.  They were growing up and looking more and more like their dads.

They both noticed that the more they grew up the smaller their big watering whole seemed to get.  They had not had any big rains in a long time and their lands were getting dryer and dryer.  Sometimes Zanzi and Mawla would overhear the grownups in their prides talk about it in hushed voices.  They both wondered if they should tell their parents about the watering hole near their secret meeting spot.  They both wondered, but they both kept quiet about it.

One day Zanzi got to the tall rounded boulder way before Mawla and noticed that there was some yucky stuff right in the middle of their religion symbol painting.  When he got closer he could see and smell that it was from a hornbill bird.  The bird must have pooped right when he flew over their tall rounded boulder.  Gross!

Zanzi wanted to try and clean up the mess the hornbill left behind before Mawla got there.  He knew there was a water shortage so he did not want to use any of the water from the nearby watering hole.  Instead he used a branch from a nearby raisin bush to try to remove the ugly smudge on the beautiful painting Mawla had made. He had heard his mom say raisin bushes were good for all sorts of things, including cleaning.  As he rubbed the raisin bush branch over the ugly spot it just made a bigger mess.  Black stuff was coming off the raisin branch and getting all over the painting.  It was making a terrible mess.  Zanzi began to panic.  He started to use his paws to try to clean off the black stuff from the raisin branch but it just spread it all around until you could hardly see the beautiful painting any more.  He was so focused on trying to fix things that he did not hear his best friend Mawla walk up.

"What are you doing?  Why did you ruin my painting?  Why would you do that?  It's so ugly now.  I thought you were my friend.  My best friend," Mawla began to cry.

"I'm sorry.  It was an accident Mawla.  I didn't mean to.  I was trying to make it better," Zanzi tried to explain to his friend.

"Better?  You said it was perfect."  Mawla was tired of talking.  All he wanted to do was run away and cry in private.  He ran as fast as he could.  He could not believe Zanzi would do something so mean.

Zanzi kept yelling for Mawla to come back.  He wanted to explain better.  He did not even get a chance to tell Mawla about the hornbill.  When Zanzi could no longer see his friend in the distance he stared at their tall rounded boulder with the ugly mess now on the side of it where their beautiful painting used to be.  Zanzi felt terrible.

Zanzi came to the tall rounded boulder every day, and waited for his friend Mawla, but his friend never came.  Zanzi did not want to give up though.  He would wait all by himself everyday if he had to.  He missed his best friend so much.

Mawla pouted around his cave all day.  He did not feel like going outside anymore.  It made him too sad because outside reminded him of his friend Zanzi.  Or ex-friend now.  Mawla's mom was real worried about him and kept feeling his forehead with her paw.  She thought he must be sick.  After a few days she finally made Mawla talk about why he did not want to go outside anymore.

"Mawla, I know you don't have a fever.  You say your tummy feels fine.  So what is it?  Tell me what is bothering you?  Why don't you want to go outside and play?" his mom asked.

"I don't have anyone to play with anymore.  I lost my best friend," Mawla said with his sad voice.

"What do you mean you lost your best friend?  Who is your best friend?  What happened?" his mom asked in her serious voice.

"Zanzi, he was my best friend, but not anymore.  He ruined my painting.  He ruined our new religion," Mawla was tired of keeping secrets.

When his dad heard the words "new religion" he decided to join in the conversation and he did not seem happy.  Mawla quickly regretted not keeping the secrets.

Mawla tried to explain to his dad about the painting, but his dad stopped him before he could get it all out.

"Show me," his dad said with his real serious voice.

Mawla and his dad did not say a word on the way to the tall rounded boulder.  Mawla wanted to try to explain things better, but was too afraid to speak up.  It was a long, silent walk.  Mawla's tummy really did start to hurt.  The closer they got to the tall rounded boulder the more his tummy hurt.

"Is that a watering hole?" his dad asked.

"Yes, it's close to the tall rounded boulder my painting is on," Mawla quietly said.

"Son, you knew about this watering hole and did not tell anyone?" his dad sounded so disappointed and angry.

Mawla was scared that his dad was going to let out a roar.  He did not know what to say or what to do.  He looked over at the tall rounded boulder and saw Zanzi sitting there.  Mawla decided to point his paw at Zanzi and blame his ex-friend.

"He told me not to tell.  He came up with the new religion idea.  It was him," Mawla told his dad.

Mawla watched his dad run over to his ex-friend Zanzi.  He heard his dad's loud roar.  He watched his dad pick up the dried up raisin bush branch and hit Zanzi across his face.  He saw the black streak that it left.  He heard his ex-friend cry.  He saw Zanzi look at him before he ran away.  Mawla felt terrible.  He should not have blamed Zanzi for everything, but he was too scared of his dad to tell the whole truth.

And that was the misunderstanding that started the terrible war between the Navi and Pika lion prides.



Chapter 5 - Years of War



The Navi and the Pika prides fought each other for years and years.  Many lions died during the war.  Lions from the Navi pride died and lions from the Pika pride died.  No lion was safe.  Even the two kings died.  And so Zanzi became the king of the Navi pride and Mawla became the king of the Pika pride.

There was still a water shortage in all the lions' land.  They had small rain showers ever so often that helped to keep them alive, but there were no big rains like they used to have long ago.

Neither pride wanted to use the watering hole by the tall rounded boulder because part of it was on the Navi pride land and part of it was on the Pika pride land.  Each pride thought drinking from the watering hole would be bad luck, but these were desperate times.  Just as many lions were dying from thirst as they were from the war.

Zanzi was tired of watching members of his pride die of thirst.  He had drunk out of the watering hole by the tall rounded boulder many times as a lion cub.  He and Mawla used to drink out of it.  The water tasted good.  Zanzi decided to lead a group of Navi lions to the watering hole to gather water and bring it back for his Navi pride.

Mawla was also tired of watching members of his pride die of thirst.  He knew there was nothing wrong with the watering hole by the tall rounded boulder.  He decided he would lead a group of Pika lions to the watering hole so that they could bring water back to their Pika pride.

As each group got closer to the tall rounded boulder they could see the other group coming.  Some of the lions were scared but they kept that a secret.  Some of the lions were angry and yelled mean things out to the other group.

Zanzi decided to tell his group to stay quiet and to stay still while he walked towards the tall rounded boulder alone.  Mawla told his group the same thing and walked towards the tall rounded boulder alone.

All the lions were silent as they watched their kings approach each other.  It was so quiet you could hear the clouds above moving over them.

Zanzi and Mawla both stopped walking when they reached the tall rounded boulder.  They had not seen each other since that terrible day long ago.  The day the lions' war started.  Neither one of them spoke.  The whole world was quiet.



Chapter 6 - The Last Battle



Zanzi and Mawla stared at each other without saying a word.  Then they both looked at the ugly black smudge on the tall rounded boulder.  The ugliness that hid the beautiful painting underneath.  You could still see both their paw prints from so many years ago.  They looked so small now.

As they stood in front of each other in silence a hornbill flew over and dropped a poop bomb right in the middle of the black smudge on the tall rounded boulder.  Mawla wanted to laugh, but he noticed Zanzi getting very angry.

"YOU!  It's all your fault!" Zanzi yelled at the hornbill in his very mad voice.

Zanzi picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could at the hornbill but he missed him.  Mawla was very surprised and did not understand why Zanzi was so mad at the hornbill.

"Why are you so mad at that hornbill?  It's not like he made the painting you ruined any worse," Mawla said to Zanzi.

"No, you don't understand Mawla.  All those years ago, I didn't get a chance to tell you.  A hornbill messed up your painting, just like this," Zanzi pointed to the poop stain.

"I tried so hard to clean it before you saw it.  I didn't use the water from the watering hole because of the water shortage.  So I used a raisin bush branch, but it made it worse.  I felt so terrible.  I waited for you every day after that.  I waited for you so I could explain what happened.  I was so happy when you finally came, even though I saw your dad was with you.  I was so happy until your dad started roaring at me and telling me that I was a bad lion for making you keep the watering hole a secret and for making you give up your religion.  After he hit me I just ran away and cried.  I knew we could no longer be friends after that.  Why did you blame me Mawla?  Why?" Zanzi asked with his hurt voice.

"Why didn't you tell me about the hornbill?  My feelings were so hurt because I thought you were messing up my painting just to be mean.  It hurt my feelings so much that I didn't want to talk to you anymore.  I was so sad.  I'm sorry I blamed you for everything.  I was just hurt and really scared of my dad," Mawla said with his "I'm sorry" voice.

"Your dad was a pretty scary lion.  I was very scared of him that day," Zanzi remembered.

"I know.  I felt so awful when he hit you with that raisin bush branch.  I'm really sorry Zanzi."

"I'm really sorry too Mawla," Zanzi said with his "I'm sorry" voice.

They both looked at each other and then they looked at their small painted paw prints on the tall rounded boulder.  They both put their paws on top of the painted paws beside each other.  Then they smiled and hugged each other.

The other lions were too far away to hear what their kings were saying.  When they saw the two lions hugging they thought they were fighting.  They all started yelling until there was a loud thunderclap louder than any lion roar.  Everyone got quiet again and then it started to rain.  It was not just little rain.  It was a big rain.  All the lions were so happy they started to dance and to sing.

Zanzi and Mawla both started laughing as they watched their lion prides dancing and singing in the rain.  And then something wonderful happened.  The rain washed away the hornbill poop.  And that's not all.  The rain washed away the ugly black smudge from the raisin bush branch all those years ago.  Then the rain washed away all the hurt feelings between Zanzi and Mawla.  The rain washed away everything except the beautiful painting that Mawla had painted and the small lion cub paw prints.

"I'm so tired of this lion war Mawla, how about you?" Zanzi asked his dear friend.

"Yes Zanzi, I am very tired of this lion war too.  We are both kings now.  Let's just put an end to it right here and now.  Here in this spot where we first met all those years ago," Mawla said.

So Zanzi, the king of the Navi pride and Mawla, the king of the Pica pride both climbed on top of the tall rounded boulder and told all their lions that the war was officially over.  They told them that it did not matter if they worshipped the sun or the moon, or both.  They told them that all that mattered was that they were all lions.  They all had paws, they all had tails, and they all had similar eyes, noses, and ears.  Even if they had different religions they were still all lions.

After that day there were no more lion wars.  Zanzi and Mawla became best friends again.  Not only were they best friends again, their two lion cub daughters were best friends too.

The watering hole by the tall rounded boulder never ran low on water again.  Lions from all prides were welcome to drink there.  And to this very day you can still see the beautiful sun and moon painting on the tall rounded boulder with the two small lion cub paws below it.

The End