Ears the Lion Cub, Part I

           Ears the Lion Cub was a ferocious young cub, always springing and pouncing, lurking and lunging and occasionally sneezing.  Oh, he was sly and he was dangerous. 

One delightfully sunny, but still dewy morning, in the middle of a fierce battle with a rubber tree plant, Ears heard with his very large and very sensitive ears, a subtle scuffling nearby.  Rolling upright onto all fours, he released the rubber tree plant from his terrible grasp.  He stood perfectly still, listening for clues.  Who was the intruder?  What creature dared to enter his kingdom?  YES, the intruder was definitely nearby. Ears distinctly heard the dirt and grasses of the earth being upset.  Instantly, he knew his enemy.  It must be a giant boa slithering, as giant boas do.  Hah!  Foolish boa thinking he could catch Ears by surprise.             

Ears prepared himself for the challenge.  He hunkered down low, stiffly swishing his tail. Then with his whole body tensed, he crept forward, silently and stealthily.  As the sounds grew louder, he watched carefully and saw movement in the high grasses near a large tree.  Now Ears raised his hindquarters and prepared to attack.  No boastful boa was a match for him.  One good grip with claws of steel and a quick nip delivered by his terrifying jaws and that boa would slither away into the desert.  He would be forever outcast from the jungle--cursed to spend his days warning all others to “Stay away or face Ears, the Great Lion King.” 

The sound of the scuffling and shuffling moved closer.  Ears watched the movement of the grass, to see the path of the unseen intruder.  The movement in the grasses only a few feet away, Ears knew the moment had arrived.  Preparing his front paws, he reared back and sprang forth mightily.  Ears landed squarely on his chin, just short of his target.  With a SCREECH that brought the whole jungle kingdom to the site, the intruding creature flew into the air.  Ears, trying to stand upright again, was knocked backwards by the monster’s flying tail.  Before Ears could shake the dancing stars from his head, he heard laughter bouncing from tree to tree and sliding up and down the vines. 

Ears looked around and saw himself surrounded by the animals of the jungle.  The great elephants were stuffing their trunks into their own mouths, trying to hold back their chuckling.  The giraffes arched their heads high into the air, letting their laughter bubble up and down their great necks.  Parrots fell off their perches, so tickled they lost their balance.   Even the chimps, no older than Ears, were rolling, and cackling and snickering and bouncing in fits of amusement.  Confused, Ears looked up to see his cruel enemy.  There in the tree sat a shivering, shaking and very annoyed flying squirrel.

“But… where was the boa?” Ears wondered.  His eyes darted quickly about searching for the beast.  As the chuckling, chortling, tittering and roaring increased in his sensitive ears, he began to realize that there was no giant boa, no terrible intruder, no enemy, no… “Aaaggggh!” only the silly, wobbly and irritated flying squirrel.  The whole jungle had seen Ears outdone by a silly squirrel! 

Ears’ throat felt dry and the tips of his ears turned hot.   He faced his audience and stared them down.  He flattened his ears and stiffened his tail and began to hiss and spit.  He would show them who was king of the jungle.  The effect was not what Ears had hoped.  The laughter rose to an unbearable volume.  He scanned the cruel crowd, hoping to see friend.  Searching, he did not find a single face that was not twisted with mockery.  Then Ears saw Solomon the Gorilla.  Solomon stood strong, serious and perfectly still.  The giant ape’s arms were crossed and his eyes looked angrily at Ears.  Solomon closed his eyes, lowered his head and slowly moved it from left to right.  As he did so, the jungle became silent and the entire crowd moved noiselessly back into the depths of the jungle.  Ears’ eyes welled with hot, angry tears, but he refused to let a single teardrop fall.  Heroically he matched Solomon’s gaze.   Solomon pursed his lips and then turned away, leaving Ears alone, humiliated and confused.

Then came the sound of something approaching from behind.  Ears’ left ear perked backwards, but he did not have the heart to turn and see who else had come to make fun of him.

“Hey Man! Hey Man!  That was wrong! Just wrong Man!  They wouldn’t have been laughing if that squirrel had been a jaguar."  Curly the Baboon was Ears’ best friend and wrestling partner.  “That squirrel could have been a jackal for all they knew.  Could have been a hyena, Man, or a crocodile, Man. Yeah, a big old croc.”

Ears stood on all fours again and shook the dirt from his chin.  “Yeah, could have been a big old croc.”