"Hey, what's going on here?," said the King, "who stole the waterhole?" The other animals looked around at the lion warily, he was known to be a bit tetchy in the morning heat before his first drink of the day. They moved about nervously, grouping together regardless of species. They knew they were all prey to the King and not just subjects. Finally one of the giant elands spoke up undaunted despite being a larger antelope.
"Can't you see, it's sunk? Went down ten feet and we can't reach it." He backed off slowly as the lion approached with a low barely audible growl.
"That can't be, I had my fill here only last night, there must be water in it." "There is," said a plucky giraffe, but even I can't reach it with my long neck." She
twitched her ears irritably.
"Nor I with my friends," said the monkey, who had tried joining forces and lowering others down to reach it. The lion was most annoyed,
"Well I command someone to come up
with something. The nearest river or
source of decent drinking water is far too
distant, we will all die of thirst before we
reach it."
"Not us," laughed the vultures from high above. And the King let out a mighty roar to scare the meddlesome creatures away.
The sun was causing ripples of heatwaves that made the air appear to waiver. Dust kicked up in a gentle breeze that soothed the King and his subjects enough that they could all think in peace. This they did for many hours, but nobody had any bright ideas. Every now and again one species would put their heads together in hushed whispers but nothing was put forward. The Lion started to grow impatient.
"If worst comes to worse I know I can drink the blood of any one of you and that will quench my thirst. I suggest you all work together to come up with a solution. Time is of the essence." His tail beat the ground angrily like a metronome counting down the minutes. He was not above giving them a little added motivation to spur them on. "Together!" he roared. All of a sudden beasts grew restless and nervously grouped closer together and started mumbling.
It was the gazelles who suggested finding
the elephants and uprooting a tree to throw into the hole to give them a route down. But the hyenas just laughed and said there were no elephants nearby nor any trees in this part of the their land. It was nothing more than rocks and grazing patches.
Then it was the zebras who asked if they couldn't lower the monkeys down using the long tail of the buffalo whilst they all held on to his horns for balance. But even this met with sceptical opposition, and a very menacing look from the buffalo himself. No matter what they
came up with they knew it wouldn't work.
Then the lion spotted one of his subjects
at the back. He'd been trying to spot but he was small and quiet. The other up, beasts had a hierarchy and smaller ones were way down the pecking order. First predator in size, then prey likewise in size order, that was the usual way of things. Yet these weren't normal times so the King spoke clearly above the half baked ideas coming forward now.
"Let the meerkat speak." Nobody was pleased, but they dare not contradict the lion. He had a sore temper and a lethal claw and bite, and he was working himself up into a foul mood.
The poor little scrawny meerkat needed the support of his friends around him before he could speak up in front of so many watchful eyes. His voice was weak and Fable from his lack of confidence. "Why not throw stones in?" he asked innocently. Their species was a very gregarious and prolific one, and they had good schooling. The beasts around him just laughed at him unashamedly. "Silly little fool," said the rhino from her place at the back of their ranks, how will that help us?"
"Quiet," shouted lion,"let him speak." He was a just King in many respects because he knew to be a wise leader you must listen to any and all ideas. That wisdom isn't dependent on size or gender nor on species. And the meerkat was pushed forward again by his brethren and they stroked him reassuringly until he resumed.
"To raise the water level so that we can all drink it we must work together." He said softly. "If we all drop stones in, the weight will push the water upwards and then we can all reach it." "But even if that's true," declared rhino again," it will take many stones to raise it to the level we require!" "That's right," said the King," but if the alternative is a certain death are you not all willing to try?" He got up and picked up a large rock in his jaw, walking over to the hole and dropped it in. There was a satisfying splash. In a bid to support their fellow meerkat the others of his species picked up stones and they too threw them in.
"Now get to work," said lion," and no slacking. The bigger you are, the bigger the rocks I expect you to be able to contribute."
It was back breaking work in the hot heat of an African day. As they all laboured grumbling loudly a sort of camaraderie and competition grew. It became a matter of pride who could contribute the most. At first they were negative and kept out of each other's way on this shared task. But when they could see the water level actually was rising, they cheered up a lot. They knew it would take them many hours so they got into a kind of rhythm. They found that it was easier if they took a more positive view, and time flew by. They'd stomp and give loud cries of support when someone contributed more than their fair share. And when rhino put her bulk behind a huge boulder that just fit the gap they all let out roars and brays or whinnies. As she neared the hole and it got harder they all helped with their own body weight pushing it. From his place in the shade the King was pleased to see his subjects getting along for once.
It was evening time that day the water level was up sufficiently high. To their credit the lion thought, nobody had suggested stopping when the level was high enough just for the larger beasts to reach down. They kept going until they could all benefit.
That night the King declared there would be a huge celebration in their honour. He stood at the head of them before anyone had taken a drink.
"I declare you all good and loyal friends and subjects. I couldn't be happier at the group effort so deservedly rewarded. Come drink and celebrate your victory." He was beaming in pride. They all raced up so parched and thirsty, but with joy in their hearts. They were laughing and praising the little clever meerkat. And all of them without question said it was the most refreshing, beautiful water that they'd ever tasted. It was just their old waterhole, just the same water. But even the King admitted it was the sweet taste of camaraderie and effort that made it such a special night together under the African stars.
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