foreleg just below the knee as she felt herself overbalance and fall onto her left side.

"Oh dear, can't see too well close up I see," said Rafiki as he picked himself up from the dust where Akase had pinned him. "It's best not to hit my stick. You see - it can hit back." He rubbed his side where the wooden staff had pivoted as Akase struck it, the bruise was already painful. Akase lay licking her leg where a few drops of blood had begun to well up. Ahadi stood up flinching from the half-inch deep cuts from Akase's claws. For a moment he blinked uncertainly then dropped back down again as the top of his head began to throb. "I told you to stop. Now then let's have a look at that," Rafiki said as he bent down to inspect Akase's leg.

"I don't understand. Why don't you run away?" asked Akase as Rafiki gently pushed her nose away from the wound.

"Because you are hurt, and you are with cub," was all the reply she got.

"What?" Blurted Ahadi with cub-like eyes. "How?"

"You don't know?" responded Rafiki as he inspected the lioness, gently holding her leg, "Oh dear, there is much more to teach you than I thought."

      ***

In time Ahadi and the lionesses he had brought with him from the far off marsh lands came to trust Rafiki and to accept him as a sort of occasional cub. They followed his advice and soon moved into the cave on the towering rock overlooking the plain. It caught the morning sun and the hard surface warmed rapidly in the early light. The cave was never cold despite its solid rock walls. Indeed it could become stiflingly warm, even unbearably hot. However, by late morning the ledges and promontory of the rock became pleasantly shady allowing the lions to migrate outside where they could doze safely in the open and, if they so desired, they could watch the astonishing variety of herd animals grazing steadily and peacefully across the plains below.

Not long after the pride had moved in Ahadi was dozing idly in the cave one morning at dawn when Akase rushed in and prodded him with her cool nose.

"Wake up, come on, wake up!" Ahadi, half roused from a rather odd dream about warthogs and meerkats, peered up, hoping that whatever had woken him would go away and leave him to catch the warthog. Akase prodded him again. "Up you get, come on. You've got to see this!"

"Wha... see what? Come on, don’t you know it's still dark."

"No it's not. Now get up - up, up, up."

"Oh Akase! Not that at this time of the day. Let a poor lion rest!"

She stepped lightly round to his open side and forced a forepaw under his flank, pushing out her claws.

"Hey, that hurts!" Ahadi drew up to escape the bony lump under his ribs, "What's so great about today? Why can't I sleep?"

"Are you the king?" Akase asked knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Sure, now let the king sleep."

"I know you're the king, but they don't know yet," said his mate insistently.

"Who?" Ahadi open his eyes fully and looked into the gloom of the cave. They were, unusually for dawn, alone. "Look, there's no one here."

"There is: them - outside." Akase said forcefully, "Come on, you had better see this." She padded away towards the bright entrance. Ahadi forced himself up, muttering something about listening to his mother more, and walked stiffly after her, yawning loudly. There seemed to be something different about the rock that morning, the air was filled with a tangible expectancy.

Akase, her sides full of their cub, stepped to one side as Ahadi crossed the threshold of the cave and out into the full force of the dawn sun. Before him stood a bright blue bird which stretched out its wings and, in a gesture Ahadi had never seen before, bowed deeply before him. Ahadi started and drew back, uncertain as to who or what this might be. Rafiki stepped up to him, his stick held high, and put his free arm over the great lion's shoulders, burying it deep in his mane.

"Don't worry, that's only Zazu. You can get to know him later," said the mandrill as the hornbill held himself low before the lion as if waiting for something.

"Err - thank you, er... Zazu is it?"

"At your service Sire." Replied Zazu rising to look at his king. "Anything that you want, I will give to you. I am the king's most loyal servant."

Rafiki flapped at Zazu dismissively with his free hand. "Pappbh! It is time." Rafiki led Ahadi, blinking in the sun, away from Zazu, who glowered at the mandrill as they drew away. The mandrill and lion walked steadily across the still cool rock and up to the end of the promontory. "I can't lift you, you had better stand up straight and roar loudly instead." He confided as he whispered into the king's ear. Ahadi took one look beyond the rock edge and on to the plain. He felt unsteady and rocked slightly side to side. "It's ok, I have got you."

Assembled as far as Ahadi's half open eyes could see were more animals of more species than he had ever seen and still more that he had never seen. His instinct told him to turn and run back to the cave, hoping he would wake there to find that the day was just like any other. Rafiki's steadying arm around him told him that this was all too real.

"Help me Rafiki, what am I supposed to do?" His voice was unsteady and wavering, his eyes turned from the crowds below to look at Rafiki pleadingly.

"Just remember who you are. You are the King of the Pridelands are you not?"

"Do I have to be?" Ahadi replied doubtfully.

"Too late, all you have to do is roar and they'll all go away, but make it good. They are expecting a king not a cub."

"Just one roar? And then they'll go away, is that it?"

"Yes... it is time." Rafiki drew his arm back from Ahadi and stepped back to leave him alone at the tip of the rock. Ahadi tried to forget the animals of every type waiting below him. For a moment he thought he could not go through with it. He closed his eyes and felt the warm rays of the sun on his forehead. He threw his head up and opened his eyes to the full force of the dawn, the bright light blotting out everything as he drew in the cold air of the morning and roared out over the plain. As he finished he heard the faint echoes of his roar die away, to be followed by the loudest sound he had ever heard: the entire population of the Pridelands erupted into voice together to proclaim him as their one true king. As the sound wrapped around Ahadi he felt his fear drop away and he raised his head high and let himself roar again; just for the sheer pleasure of it all.

He was now the King of the Pridelands and he made a mental note to forgive Akase for waking him so early: she had been right, this really was worth seeing....

      ***

The rock where the pride now lived and where Ahadi had been presented later became known as Priderock, partly as the pride lived there and partly as it was Ahadi's first pride and joy. Later this pride and joy was to be replaced as his first cub with his mate Akase was born there. However this cub, a male, was not the first to be born on the Pridelands. That honour had fallen to a female, named Sarabi, a couple of months before. She had two sisters but Sarabi was always the special one as she was the first. Her birth had been surrounded by speculation and rumour. She certainly did not look much like Ahadi, who vigorously insisted that he was her father. Her dark fur was quite unlike Ahadi's golden coat and her mother's pale sand. Then there were her dark brown, almost black, ear rim marks and the smooth flow of her nose that gave her a dignified look even as a young cub. Sarabi carried her name like a badge; she was something of a mirage: her origins were forever shrouded in mystery and intrigue, even from herself. It was not until the birth of Mufasa that the rumours finally died down as now the lionesses had something new to talk about.

A week later Immue bore a male cub, the fifth to be born on the Pridelands, in great secrecy. He was small and for a time seemed very likely to die. Immue kept him hidden from all, especially his

father Ahadi, for well over six weeks. She was seen lurking around the pride and from time to time was seen hunting. She never ventured close to Priderock and no one ever found out where she kept her cub hidden, no one even knew if it was a son or a daughter until Immue lead him up to the rock at dawn. Ahadi greeted her respectfully as the mother of his cub. The two month old Mufasa rocked unsteadily up to his father's side to stare at his new half-brother.

"This is Scar." Immue said without being asked. "If anyone harms him they'll have me to answer to, do you hear?"

There were murmurs and whispers all around her; one caught her ear: "However did he get that scar?" Immue did not dignify the comment with a reply, instead she simply picked up the wide-eyed Scar between her teeth and carried him up to the flat of the rock and lay down, placing him by her side. The cub stared out as the lionesses crowded round to inspect him. They quickly saw that the scar, seemingly a gash over the lids of his left eye that stood out boldly against the almost black hair that surrounded his eyes, was actually a hairless band of smooth flesh quite unlike the rough mark left by a true injury. It turned out that Immue had given him the name in the heat of the birth, as parents