SCENE:  NALA'S QUEST


	After two years as King, Taka's Drought, as it had come to 
be known, had dried up the very lifeblood of the Pride Lands.  It 
was another hot, dry day on the scorched savanna as the lionesses 
turned over rocks and dug at promising burrows trying to find 
something, anything.  No one else would be foolish enough to 
attack an elephant calf-Uzuri had seen to that.  Any lioness 
caught breaking the rules would be suspended from the hunt for one 
moon, and have to rely on the generosity of others.
	Nala could remember better days, but since she had been an 
adult, there was no large game to hunt.  Somehow she held out hope 
that rain would come, and there would be a future where all her 
mother taught her about wildebeests and antelopes would be useful.
	The heat made shimmering blue patches of the sky look like 
cool lakes on the dry savanna.  Waves of heat made the trees dance 
and soaked her fur with sweat.  She panted.
	"Nala, you rest in the shade," Uzuri said.  It was not a 
request, but an order.  Uzuri was strict, but only out of genuine 
care for her.  On hunt, she was everyone's mother and exercised 
her parental authority to the letter.
	Nala was half relieved to get a break.  She curled up in the 
shade of an acacia and thought to take a short nap.  The heat had 
literally drained her.
	A large grasshopper climbed to the top of a stalk of grass.  
In her desperation, Nala started to swat at it.
	"No time to rest, Nala," a voice said.  With a start, Nala 
looked around.
	A lioness looked at her, smiling pleasantly.  "My little 
Nala, how tall you've grown."
	The face was familiar, but Nala sniffed the air to no avail-
the stranger had no smell.  "Who are you?"
	"Does it matter?"  The lioness lay next to her.  "What a hot 
day.  And you trying to find snakes and lizards under rocks.  Have 
you ever killed big prey?"
	"Well-uh-no."  This visitor was nothing if not impertinent.  
"How about you?"
	"Big prey, small prey, you name it.  And what's more, I know 
where you can find what you are looking for.  I know all the good 
spots to hunt.  You can be the salvation of the Pride Lands with 
my help."
	"Not until you tell me who you are."
	The lioness pawed her gently.  "Why honey, you know who I 
am-you just refuse to believe it.  Take a close look."
	Nala trembled a little.  "Oh my gods-Beesa!"
	"I've never heard it put quite that way before."  She 
laughed pleasantly.  "What makes you think I've turned mean and 
ugly just because I died?"
	"But you're not mean and you're not ugly."
	"So what are you afraid of, Hon?"  Beesa touched her with 
her warm, moist tongue.  "Tell me you're glad to see me.  Where 
are your manners?"
	Nala pawed her and nuzzled her.  "Good old Beesa!  I've 
missed you."
	"That's more like it."  She nuzzled her back.  "Follow me, 
child.  I'll take you to the jungle where your destiny lies."
	"The jungle?  But Uzuri said I have to...."
	"Don't worry about her.  She can't see me and she won't see 
you."
	Beesa got up, stretched, and headed out into the sun.  Nala 
followed her across the savanna and into the shade of the trees.


SCENE:  THE CLAN MEETING


	After two years as King of the Pride Lands, Taka had earned 
many enemies.  But his oldest enemy was the one he dreaded most.  
In the night, caught in the suffocating embrace of his recurring 
dream, Taka began to jerk and moan.  Even in sleep, the suffering 
mirrored clearly in his face as his teeth bared.  Elanna stirred 
and rolled over.  His whimpering caught her attention and she 
shook him.  "Taka?"
	He awoke in icy terror, almost biting her.
	"It's me.  Elanna.  You're safe.  Calm yourself, dear."
	"The hyenas," he stammered.  "It's always the same.  Oh but 
that the gods would let me roam the earth by day and night, never 
needing sleep!  I try to tell myself it's just a dream, but I 
can't wake up, and I am torn apart, torn apart alive."
	He looks piercingly into her eyes, something that always 
made her uncomfortable.  "What does it feel like to sleep?  To 
just lay down and sleep without fear?"
	She yawned.  "It's wonderful.  I'd like to try it myself."  
She kissed him indulgently.  "Tomorrow you must go to Rafiki and 
ask him what the dream means."
	"Rafiki hates me," Taka said.  "He would lie just to get me 
killed.  He'd really like to see me ripped apart by hyenas.  
Poetic justice, he'd call it.  He started the problem.  I'm not 
fool enough to trust that ape a second time."
	"Then why don't you kill him?"
	"The gods protect him.  His power is too strong.  That 
Makhpil is too close to Shenzi.  I don't trust her either."
	"If everyone is against you, why do you stay here?  I'd 
follow you anywhere-you know that.  We could start over, just the 
two of us."
	"We'd be no safer anywhere else.  The true seer had spoken, 
and I believe her."  He nuzzled her.  "Elanna, you must live 
forever.  You're all I have left.  Swear you'll never leave me."
	She nuzzled him again, rubbing his tense body with her paw.  
"You're all I have.  I gave up everything for you.  I can't bear 
your child.  You won't even let me hunt anymore, not that the 
others can stand me.  Taka, leave your doubts at the mouth of this 
cave.  Don't you know I would never leave you?"
	"I know."  He kissed her.  "I have to trust you.  If you 
betrayed me, I'd kill myself.  You're the only reason I cling to 
this miserable existence."
	"Don't say that, Taka.  You know how it tortures me.  I wish 
everyone could see you the way I do."  She touched him with her 
tongue.  "Stop this foolish cub talk and go back to sleep.  I'll 
put my arm around you and keep it there all night long.  At the 
first sign of trouble, I'll wake you."
	"Promise?"
	"I promise."
	Taka laid his head down and she placed her arm protectively 
around him, stroking his mane.  In a few moments, his calm, slow 
breaths showed that he was peacefully asleep.
	Two hyena eyes shined softly in the darkness as silent feet 
padded out of the cave.
	Skulk headed to a special clan meeting about Scar.  Shenzi 
greeted him affectionately and called for silence.  "Our ears have 
returned.  What have they heard?"
	"It is no folly that my mother named me Skulk.  I was 
silent, I was unseen and I heard it all."  Pleased with the 
expectant hush, he continued.  "It seems our King has dreams, 
nasty dreams about being torn apart by hyenas.  Not once or twice, 
but night after night, and always the same.  Now I ask you, is a 
dream dangerous?"
	They looked back at him not knowing what to say.  "It IS 
dangerous," Skulk thundered.  "Especially when he thinks it is a 
vision, a sign!"
	"He should have been an actor," Banzai whispered.  Shenzi 
hushed him.
	"I tell you Scar cannot be trusted.  He will turn on us the 
first time he feels threatened."
	"What are we going to do about it?" Banzai asked.
	"We could strike when the advantage is with us."
	"Even if we could gang up on him and win, if we attacked him 
the lionesses might side with him just to get rid of us."
	"Fair enough, Banzai.  But do you think I'm a hot-headed 
fool?"  His frown discouraged Banzai from answering.  "He is a 
hollow shell, a dried husk.  His very life hangs in the balance."
	"Your speeches are murder," a heckler called out.
	"Say that to my face, and I will show you a murder!"
	There was deadly silence.  Skulk was a well-sculpted 
fighting machine.
	"As I was saying, I heard with my own ears Scar telling 
Elanna if he lost her he would kill himself."
	The remark was followed by some gasps of surprise.  "With 
him gone, we could figure out something more creative.  Maybe the 
lionesses would be in a position to bargain with us.  We know of a 
male cub, an adolescent, that would be much more likely to need 
and want our help.  He would be the next king.  He would owe us 
his very soul, but unlike Taka, he's a level-headed chap that 
knows which end of the carcass to chew."
	Bree said, "If we hurt Elanna, he'd try to get revenge on 
us, THEN kill himself.  We can't rely on that."
	"No, but if it looked like an accident, or like she'd left 
him for another lion, it just might work."
	"An accident?" Shenzi said.  "He won't let her hardly 
breathe, much less get involved in an accident."
	"Let me see to that," Skulk said
	"But isn't this treason?" Bree asked.

SKULK:     	His mind was once a trap, but now it's growing rusty,
           	He's running from his shadow in the night.
           	I hate to say it friend, but Taka's `round the bend,
           	In short, our King is not quite right.

BANZAI:    	I think I see your point.  His brain is so disjointed,
           	And though sometimes he's very meek and pert,
           	He weighs five hundred pounds, and brethren it sounds
           	Like he could cause a world of hurt!

CHORUS:    	He's twitterpated, pixilated, nutty as a fruitcake,
          	A badly-addled, muddled, batty cuss!
           	A truly royal pain, a major hulking heartbreak,
           	In short, he's not a thing like us!

BREE:      	What's a fruitcake?

SKULK:     	It's all mixed up, like Scar.

BREE:      	This is treason!

SKULK:     	You bet your whiskers!  And remember you heard it here first!

BANZAI:    	He promised us a feast, instead he gives us famine,
           	And now on top of that he's gone berserk!
           	Now even when he sleeps, he still gives me the creeps,
	     	I think it's time we can the jerk!

SHENZI:    	We've been a patient lot, so downright sentimental,
           	And overlooked his lapse of sanity.
           	Enough is now enough, the King is playing rough,
          	It's time to cast your lot with me!

CHORUS:    	He's twitterpated, pixilated, nutty as a fruitcake,
           	A badly-addled, muddled, batty cuss!
           	A truly royal pain, a major hulking heartbreak,
           	In short, he's not a thing like us!


	Skulk said, "You know his mind is falling apart.  He thinks 
his dream it is a sign--I think maybe it is."
	"You must not do this evil thing," Fabana cried.  "There is 
good in him."
	"Who is that old fool?" Sarabi said.  "Someone shut her up."  
She did not recognize that it was her mother.
	"We won't be without help," Shenzi shouted above the 
commotion.  The room grew suddenly quiet.  "There are some 
lionesses that would go along with us in our plan."
	Fabana makes a remark that seems quite reasonable to the 
others, though she is not too strong those days.  "If Taka must 
die, let me kill him."
	Shenzi smiled broadly.  "See, Mom is as anxious as the rest 
of us to be rid of this dandelion.  And it was her idea for this 
union to form."
	"That was not my idea," Fabana said.  "He's suffered much in 
life.  Please don't drive him to take his own life in despair.  If 
Taka must die, first I will make him happy.  I will tell him all 
the things he wants to hear, and when his heart rejoices, I will 
give him a little something from Rafiki to make him sleep.  When 
he's quiet, I will choke off his wind.  It will be quick and 
merciful.  He deserves that much."
	Shenzi looks at her mother with a little bit of respect.  
"It might work."  She thinks for a moment.  "But Elanna will find 
him.  She's always with him when he sleeps.  I'm sorry, but that's 
out."
	"You don't understand.  He's a tormented little pup, a 
fizh'lo that the gods would have been wise to take as an innocent 
youth in his milk."
	"You advise the gods?"
	"No, I advise my daughter.  I adopted Taka-he is my son, and 
a true believer in our faith.  You will give him the same rights 
you would give one of your own.  Rights under our law.  We cannot 
torment him.  If he dies, it must be honorably.  We must fight him 
one at a time."
	"You mean that vain, overstuffed excuse for a king is my 
brother?"  She shuddered.  "I don't agree.  I didn't swear to it.  
That little boy of yours is dangerous.  He'll turn on you.  You'd 
better not try and warn him if you know what's good for you."
	"You're right.  He's not your brother, for that would make 
you my daughter."  She turned her back on Shenzi and scratched 
some dirt up with her hind legs.  "By Roh'kash, I renounce you."
	The hyenas took in a collective gasp.
	Her look of horror soon turned to rage.  "Being my mother is 
all that's kept you here, you meddling old fool.  Maybe you can 
adopt Rafiki too.  You'll spend the rest of your life in that 
baobab tree."  Shenzi turned her back on her mother and scratched 
dirt at her.  "By Roh'kash, I renounce you."
	Banzai and Ed were afraid and they went along with their 
sister, turning their backs on Fabana, though they said nothing.
	"Guards, take this female to the baobab-see that she does 
not escape."  Her face set hard against any feelings that may 
remain.  "Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, I called you 
here to share news of great importance.  Scar is about to make his 
exit.  Yes, we are on the threshold of a power and independence 
that will make us the envy of all peoples.  We have a plan that 
will make a great song for our children and our children's 
children.  If we stick with it as one body, there can be no chance 
of failure.  The matter is closed."


SCENE:  TIDINGS ON THE WIND


	"'The strange lion will tell his name to no one but the 
King,' his brother said.  And King Amalkozi wondered if he was 
being challenged, and he went out to greet the stranger with kind 
words while judging his strength as an enemy.
	"But when the strange lion came before the King, M'hetu, the 
childhood friend of the lost prince humbled himself and cried, 
`Behold it is Zara who once was lost but now is found.  Look, my 
King, the cub has returned a lion.'  And the King looked closely 
and saw that it was his son, he wept."

                      -- LEONID SAGA, "M" SECTION, VARIATION 5

	Rafiki looked carefully at Krull's eye and smiled.  "That is 
that.  No more treatments."
	"No, you must not say that."  Krull pawed his cheek.  "Tell 
no one I am cured, for I am happiest when we have these little 
chats.  You treat me like your brother, not your slave."
	"I have no slave-only a servant.  Aiheu owns every living 
thing.  But I have enjoyed these times too.  Your company is all 
that keeps me sane.  I thought I liked living alone, but now I 
feel like a gopher who cannot reach the surface.  I am suffocating 
underground.  You are my only light."
	"I am honored."
	Rafiki showed him a picture of a hyena on the wall.  "This 
is you."
	"But that is your prayer wall."
	"Yes.  It is a prayer for you.  When I think how I hurt your 
arm, it pains me."
	"I'm glad you did.  It was, as you call it, the blood of 
mercy, so think of it no more."  Krull glanced at the painting 
once more, then excused himself.  It was important that the others 
did not suspect his friendship.  Word could get back to Scar and 
death would follow swiftly for both of them.
	Far from the Pride Lands, Simba eyed a rare treasure, a 
bongo.  These antelopes are very wary, and well they should be for 
their meat is the favorite of most lions.  Because they haunt the 
forests, they mainly fear the leopard who brings death from above.  
This bongo saw Pumbaa and thought, with good reason, that the 
rustling behind him must be another warthog.  It was not.
	In three quick strides, Simba was on the bongo and found a 
fatal hold on its throat.  Pumbaa and Timon watched the spectacle 
of death with horror.  "Aren't you glad he's on our side," the 
meerkat said.  "Sheesh!  Carnivores!"
	Of course his whole outlook changed when Simba offered to 
share his meal.  Pumbaa would only take a little meat, for he was 
mainly a vegetarian.  But this was fresher than the carrion he was 
used to.  Timon, on the other hand, thought nothing of eating 
unwisely and well.
	They spent hours on the meal, and still they saw there was 
plenty for other days ahead.  And fully satisfied, they became a 
little drowsy, especially Simba.  He cleaned off his face, and lay 
in a small clearing with his friends.  Simba smiled with 
satisfaction, then rather indelicately belched.  Timon said, 
"Whoa!  Nice one, Simba."
	"Thanks.... Man, I'm stuffed.
	"Me too," Pumbaa said. I ate like a pig!"
	"Pumbaa, you are a pig."
	"Oh. Right."
	Pumbaa surveyed the night sky.  Often when he was young, 
he'd try to count the stars, but not being very educated, he 
didn't get far.  "Timon?"
	"Yeah?"
	"Ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?"
	"Pumbaa; I don't wonder, I know."
	"Oh! ...What are they?"
	"They're fireflies. Fireflies that uh.. got stuck up on that 
big bluish-black thing."
	"Oh. Gee. I always thought that they were balls of gas 
burning billions of miles away."
	"Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas."
	The warthog was left wanting a deeper answer.  "Simba, what 
do you think?"
	"Well, I don't know."
	"Aw come on. Give, give give give ... come on we told you 
ours.  Please?"
	Simba looked disturbed.  "Well, somebody once told me that 
the great kings of the past are up there; watching over us."
	Pumbaa sighed.  "Really?"
	Timon was amused by the answer, as Simba feared he would be.  
"You mean a bunch of royal dead-guys are watching us?"  He 
laughed, and Simba had to chuckle, but only for a moment.
	"Who told you something like that? What muke made that up?"
	"Yeah," Simba said, his face falling.  "Pretty dumb, huh?"
	"Ah, you're killing me, Simba."
	Simba's eyes searched the skies.  He could almost smell the 
familiar presence of his father next to him.  It was almost like 
sitting on Pride Rock watching the sunrise.  Then abruptly he 
could see the battered body from whose lifeless arm he stole one 
last embrace.  The ugliness of the memory took his breath away, 
and he had to leave before he roared with the depth of his grief.
	Simba walked out on a nearby ledge.  Looking into the stars 
for some sign of hope, he found none.  "I thought you'd be there 
for me, but you're not.  You're not!"  He collapsed in despair.  A 
cloud of milkweed floss was stirred up by the impact, rising 
slowly around him. Caught by the air currents, it drifted away on 
the breeze.
	Rafiki was ready to eat his meager evening meal when a cool 
wind swept over him.  It was from the wrong direction for that 
time of day.  What's more, there was milkweed floss on the breeze, 
and no milkweed grew in that area.  He collected it.  Something in 
it makes his fingers tingle.  He put it in a bowl and sifted it 
sunwise.  It came out in a shape that only had meaning to an 
astrologer like him.  The constellation Amalkosi, where Mufasa's 
star burned brightly.  He turned it again sunwise and it came out 
again Amalkosi.  Then he wanted its meaning so he turned it 
counter-sunwise.  It fell into a constellation he recognized very 
clearly.  M'hetu.
	Reverently he whispered the words of an old tale: "Look, my 
King, the cub has returned a lion."  He turned and looked at the 
painting of Simba.  He reached out and put his fingertips on it 
and they began to tingle.  His hand started shaking.  "Simba?? 
He's--he's alive? He he- He's alive!!"  He laughed loud and 
wonderfully.  "It is time!"  Trying to control his shaking hands, 
he picked up some red ochre and hastily daubed a mane on the 
painting.  "Krull, come quickly!"
	The hyena arrived seconds later.  He saw the radiant face of 
Rafiki and smiled, genuinely pleased.  "Yes??"
	"I need an escort."  He drew close and gave Krull an 
affectionate pat.  "Listen carefully," he whispered.  "The time 
has come when you will see the power of Aiheu strike like a mighty 
thunderclap.  You will be blessed for your acts, even if they are 
against your will."
	"Against my will?"  Krull said. "The old vow by Roh'kash 
means nothing to me.  Through you I have come to know Aiheu, and I 
have given my life to him.  I am his servant now."
	Rafiki beamed with joy.  "Today is twice blessed.  They call 
you Krull, which in your tongue means flint, but I call you Uhuru, 
which means peace."  Rafiki took his staff and said, "There is a 
long journey ahead, my friend.  We will not return alone."
	"Where do we head, my Lord?"
	"Into the wind, Uhuru.  We go to the King!"
	

SCENE:  SHENZI'S PLAN


	A couple of days later, all the hyena guard knew of Rafiki's 
escape.  But afraid for their own safety, they said nothing to the 
others.  All visitors were turned away, even the very ill, and 
suspicion began to build that someone had murdered the mandrill 
secretly and eaten him.  Indeed, with the scarcity of food, it was 
not a foolish notion.  Uzuri's son Kombi was lost, and for the 
longest two hours of her life, she expected to find the remains of 
her dead child as she searched the Pride Lands.  When she found 
Kombi digging in a termite mound, she cuffed him, then kissed him, 
and cried.  "You must never wander off again.  It is not safe 
anymore."  Indeed, most lionesses felt that way, and had taken to 
sleeping lightly with a paw across their children.
	A couple of hyenas came privately to Elanna.
	"What are you doing here?"
	"Hsssh!"  Bot'la came to her side and whispered in her ear.  
"My lady, this is urgent.  But you must not tell the King."
	"What is this coming and going that you don't tell the 
King?"
	"I have a mate," Bot'la of the hyenas said.  "I'll level 
with you-we love our mates and pups as much as you.  We have 
feelings too."
	"So?"
	"So."  He whispered even more lowly.  "You are the one that 
loves Scar."
	"Taka," she said indignantly.
	"Keep it down, please!"  The sound of his voice startled 
him, and the Bot'la winced.  "You love him.  You know in your 
heart no one else does."
	"This is treason."
	"OK, so it's treason.  Fine.  But even though we don't care 
a whit for Taka, it so happens my friend and I feel differently 
about you.  Your care for him is-well-almost hyena-like.  I think 
you deserve a break, so I'm going to let you have it straight.  If 
you want to help your husband, you'll listen to me."
	Elanna nodded.  "Speak freely."
	"It is not mine to say.  But that Rafiki, the ape that Taka 
hates so much, has shown me things.  Awful things.  He's sworn to 
protect the rightful King, the son of Ahadi--he will not break a 
vow to his God.  And he's almost foaming at the mouth with fear, 
for disaster waits for the Pride Lands and no one listens to him.  
Such awful things, but so easy to avoid if only someone who bends 
the King's ear will act quickly."
	"What things?"
	"I have sworn not to repeat what I saw," Bot'la said.  "Such 
words even in speaking can cause mischief.  Rafiki has made a good 
faith effort to undo the evil he has loosed.  You must be the 
voice of reason.  You must influence your husband."
	"Do you realize what you are saying?"
	"Yes.  If things meet their appointed course, all of us will 
die.  The land is sick.  The water is gone.  And there is worse-
madness and despair.  I don't want to die, Elanna.  I don't want 
my family to die.  And I feel I don't want you to die, either."
	Elanna was silent for a moment.  "How will I get out of 
here?"
	"We have arranged that.  Follow us and we will take you to 
him."
	She nodded.  "You're right."  She began to cry.  "I thought 
we had no friends, but you are good, Bot'la.  I can see God's 
mercy in you, so I know now there must be a God."
	Bot'la winced as if a sharp thorn had been driven through 
his heart, but he quickly hid it.  He led her out of the cave and 
down the side with utmost silence and care.  And by skirting the 
cistern and euphorbias, they made it away from Pride Rock and into 
the tall grass.
	She was unaware that Rafiki was long gone to search for 
Simba.  All she knew is that some kind souls are cloaked in 
different hides.  Somewhere, somehow, they will sit with the great 
kings of the past.
	She was not worried when her small body guard of two became 
four.  But she didn't know whether to feel flattered or frightened 
when two more joined ranks and suddenly there were six.  She 
didn't have that many friends, much less Taka.
	Behind the south kopje, four more hyenas fell in line.  It 
was then her heart sank.  She was headed away from the baobab, and 
not to hide her from her husband's watchful eyes.  They had turned 
toward the desolate lands, the appropriate place where poor Ahadi 
and Akase went to meet their God together.  Now she would die 
without family or friends.
	"Forgive me, Aiheu.  Forgive me that I have loved him, but o 
gods, how I loved him.  Bless my poor husband and comfort him in 
his hour of grief."  
	One of the hyenas went "Hssssh!  At least try to die with 
dignity."
	"My dignity before the gods is intact.  Worry about your 
own-you bring ten hunters to kill one lioness."
	"Silence!" Bot'la commanded.  He added with some regret.  "I 
don't enjoy this.  We're just trying to save ourselves and our 
families.  You can understand that."
	Then back at Pride Rock there was a tremendous shout.  
Bot'la looked back.  There was a fire at the rock.  Lions roared, 
and hyenas screamed with rage and pain.
	"The war is on!"  He looked at Elanna and thought for a 
moment.  Finally Bot'la said, "This is our land now.  Get out."
	Elanna hurried away from the hyenas.  The guard headed back 
to Pride Rock to fight the last battle.  "Death or glory, lads!  
Out with the lions!"


SCENE:  IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN


	At the climax of the battle for Pride Rock, Taka was struck 
such a blow from Simba that he tumbled from the lower promontory.  
He fell injured at the base, but still alive.
	Waiting for him were Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.  They looked 
very displeased.  Taka tried to move, but one of his legs was 
broken and his ribs were cracked.
	"Ahh, my friends."
	"Friends?" Shenzi sneered.  "I thought he said we were the 
enemy!"
	"Yeah, that's what I heard," Banzai said.  "Ed?"
	Ed laughed.
	Taka trembled.  "No. Le-Le-Let me explain. No. You don't 
understand. No! I didn't mean for... No, No!  Look, I'm sorry I 
called you...  No! No!"  They closed in on him.
	"Oh gods!  Oh my gods, it's the dream!  Wake me, Elanna!  
It's happening again!"
	"Wake me, Elanna!" sneered Shenzi.  "It's happening again!"  
Scar was frozen, unable to resist.  She closed her powerful jaws 
on his throat and crushed his windpipe.  He struggled for only a 
second, then shuddered and fell limp, nearly crushing her 
underneath.
	"What the."
	Shenzi let go in astonishment.  She nipped his nose, but his 
face did not move.
	"You scared him to death," Banzai said.  "Imagine that."
	"Weird.  But let's make sure."  With one massive pull at the 
stomach, she revealed all of Taka's inner secrets.  "He's not 
goin' NOWHERE."  How like a wildebeest he seemed under that hide.
	"Look," Banzai said.  "His teeth and ambition are bared!"
	Shenzi said, "Hey, almost as ugly on the inside as he is on 
the outside."  She got a wicked little grin.  "You know how they 
would say there was a frightened little cub deep down inside?  If 
we move some of this stuff around, we might find it."
	"Are you saying he had the light in his eyes?"
	Shenzi broke out in a full horse laugh.  "Oh gods, now 
THAT'S a good one!  Scar, pregnant!"
	Suddenly Sarabi burst in on their fun.  "Get out!"
	"Say what??"  Shenzi bared her teeth at her.
	"Get out, now!"
	Shenzi said, "Let me get this straight.  Do you think you 
could beat the three of us?  We've already killed one lion."
	"I'd I kill at least one of you."  She glanced around.  
"Which one will it be?"
	The hyenas looked at each other nervously.  "I think we'd 
better go," Banzai said.  "This isn't fun anymore."
	"Yeah.  Who cares,"  Shenzi said.  "Let her have him.  He's 
probably spoiled meat."
	They turned and trotted off.
	A few drops of rain fell on the dry and smoking plain.  
These first gifts of healing moisture were followed by others, 
many thousands, more than the stars of a cool autumn night.  The 
cleansing shower soothed the burning grass, washing ashes into the 
soil and bringing new life to the dying stream and watering hole.
	Upon the spur of Pride Rock, Simba looked into the face of 
God and  felt the cleansing gift soaking his fur.  He drew in a 
deep breath and roared.  His warm voice echoed off the kopjes and 
stones.  It reached across the freshened plains to the mighty 
forests.  The lionesses took up the call and spread the message of 
hope.  Mufasa's anointed was King-long live the King!  Only Sarabi 
was silent.  She looked at the humbled remains of her first love, 
sleeping peacefully for the first time.
	"Why did you kill Muffy?  You loved me once.  You loved me, 
but then you took away my whole life."  She stroked his mane.  
"Now I look at you and I still feel pity.  Damn you!  Even in 
death you can hurt me!" 
	Out of the rain came Fabana.  She sat next to Sarabi and 
howled.  "My son, my son!  Sarabi, did you kill my son?"
	"It was Shenzi."
	Fabana bowed her head and moaned.  "Oh gods, that girl has 
been nothing but grief to me.  She's just like her father--worse."  
She pawed at Taka's blood-spattered mane.  "Taka was the only one 
that really loved me.  And he really loved me, you know, whatever 
else he might have done.  He loved me."  She kissed him and sobbed 
out, "Memu kofasa, Taka.  Roh'kash ne nabu.  Roh'kash ne nabu!"


FABANA:	Short was the respite and long was the road
		Meager the rations and heavy the load
		Many and bitter the trials you have passed,
		Rest, my beloved, and find peace at last.

		Reach for my heart, it's not very far,
		We are together wherever you are;
		When I remember how you loved me so,
		Love will reveal it, and somehow you'll know.

SARABI:	Although we suffered a lifetime of pain,
		Thoughts of the good times will always remain;
		Gone from my life, you're not gone from my heart,
		Death has no power to keep us apart.

		Reach for my heart, it's not very far,
		We are together wherever you are;
		When you remember how I loved you so,
		Love will reveal it, and somehow I'll know.


	Sarabi took her paw and drew Fabana next to her and the two 
of them wept by the body.

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