THE ANIMALS' TRAIL

THE ANIMALS’ TRAIL
Man from the word go, had been enemy of all the animals. This is because he hurts them. One the dog was chased fro the animals' fold for violating a guinea fowl. So he went to form ally with man. The other animals were angry and plotted an attack on man. While the lion and the other animals were traveling one day, to execute their plot. As they walk alone on the road, they suddenly saw a dog run-by. All the other animals shrink except the lion and the elephant.
The lion roared because he believed in his power—the crushing power of his jaws, the grasping potent of his clawed-fangs and his overt physical strength.
The elephant on the other hand trumpeted for he was deceived by his enormous size and the inspiring trills of his tusks.
Tortoise who appears to understand that sense is better than strength shrieked into his shell.The oyster, the snail and the periwinkle followed suit. The chameleon did not delay but changed to the colour of the grass and so its identity was immediately concealed.
Then the goat, sheep, and the cow asked the elephant and the lion if they have forgotten that the dog had betrayed all the other animals by pledging his allegiance to man.
“No we haven’t” they replied.
“Then you must be very brave?” the other animals asked in a flattering mode.
The elephant swirled his tail, raised its trunked-mouth and then coiling it around a young tree closed-by; he pulled it and dropped it on the ground. Then he said to the other animals, “I believe in the power of my trucked mouth. Why should a powerful animal like me shrink to the ground for a puny dog and its weak master?” Again, he trumpeted all the louder.
The lion roared again. This time, he made sure all the teeth in the jaws were revealed. Then grasping a hare, he tore him into pieces with its fangs and claws. “Just an example” he said. “I shall do the same to the dog and it allied master”, he promised.
The goat, the sheep and the cow clapped their hands. So did the antelope and the zebra. “In the name of our king, the lion, king of the jungle we are protected” the animals chorused.
“What about me who could raise the man with my tusk and chatter him to the flour? Can I not protect you?” the elephant asked as he flapped his over-sized ears.
“You can! Our Lord the king of plant eater” the animals answered for they were afraid of stirring up strive and resentments between the elephant and the lion.
“The elephant. king of the herbivores shall chatter the man, our enemy to the flour and the lion, king of the carnivores shall tear his flesh” this came from tortoise who cleverly managed to poke its head out of the shell.
Then the animal chattered “Victory! Victory!! Victory!!!” as they travel through the thick forest.
As they move on, they discovered that hyena was missing. King lion, the carnivore only used Mr. Hare to show example. Why is hyena now missing? They wonder as they move on. Meanwhile, hyena had gone back to clean up the mess made of Mr. Hare by the lion. Having clean up the last of its flesh, he hurried up and joined them to continue the journey.
“Where have you been?” the tiger asked.
“I had a little of stomach upset and had to go and relieve myself” the hyena lied. He knew the implication of what he had done. Only lie could save him and so he lied.
“You should have told us” the animals chorused
“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t want to border you people since I knew I can always catch-up” he replied apologetically.
“No problems” all the animals replied. “Except that we were worried”.
The dog having perceived the cologne odor of the animals went to his master. Using his tail, he communicated his discovery to his master who quickly runs into his arsenal. He took gun, some cattranges (bullets) and a sword. So the dog led him into the bush using his nose and his strong sense of smell to trace the path the animals had passed through.
Soon, the dog and his master caught up with the other animals. The large elephant was everywhere. Man being a greedy animal that he is decided to go for the elephant.
‘’The tusk shall become his trumpet, the hide shall become his coverings, the meat shall become his delicacy and the bones shall serve his faithful friend and ally, the dog” so the man calculated as he aims at the elephant. The man launched his gun on the huge elephant that immediately dropped like a dead log. The animals were shocked.
Some were confused and jumped into the thick forest along the path. Some shrieked into their shells. Some like the monkey and the squirrel climbed trees and hid themselves in the leaves. Others like the goat, the sheep, the cow, the donkey and even the horses and the camel could not even take a step. They simply surrendered and pledged to follow the man and become his servants.
For they thought to themselves,’ “it is better to be the slave and the servant of the powerful man than to continue to live in the forest.”After all, the elephant the largest of then was brought down by the man in one shot.
Lion, the king of the jungle had deserted them. However, they didn’t blame the lion for running way. They were coming to fight the man and not his intelligent. They expected a weaponless man like themselves. But the sound of the gun took all of them by surprise. Especially how a mere sound, saw the mighty elephant crashing down.
The lion ran with such a speed that he almost forgot he is the king of the jungle. When he eventually was sure of safety. He sat down to ponders on the nature of man. His strong jaws and claws shivers. He thought he had power but man had proved him wrong in the presence of all the other animals.
He was humiliated by man and all the other animals would treat him with disdain from today on; for running and leaving them behind with a faster speed than any of them. However, it will be better never to admit his weakness before his subjects. He had to be bolder and anyone who tries to revolt him will face the power of his jaws and claws. After all Mr. Hare and fold will continue to forever reference him with awe.
As for dog and man, only God knows what he lion would do with them he should catch them unaware.
The dog and the man became tighter. They became the best of hurting friends. But even at that, dog can never claim equality with man. He, Man has intelligence that can translate into infinite power. Indeed, he is man, a name which means “more advanced than nature”.

From "My Little Book Of Fables"