gotta be kidding me right?”

“Shuuussssh, she’ll hear you. Keep it down!”

“Come on, I’m the lion around here.” Falana looked scared. “Huh? What kinda stunt are you trying to pull anyway?”

“I don’t know who’s the king or queen where you come from Nengwe, but here the dogs rule and you had better not forget it. Come on, let’s get out of here, the wind doesn’t smell so sweet since she went past.” Falana got up and walked off.

“Falana, you’re serious aren’t you?” he called after her. Setting off, he was by her side in couple of strides.

“Deadly serious. Believe me; those dogs can kill you with a single look if they don’t like you. And I’m not at all sure Elizabeth there liked you much.”

“How can they do that? Come on, they don’t know how to kill a lion, not with a look surely, it simply isn’t possible. Anyway, how can they rule? They don’t know anything about what happens around here. Sure, they can bite but they’re nothing but stupid, slobbering, mangy… dogs.”

“They know Nengwalamwe, believe me. They get to know everything that we do or even think. They know who you are, that’s why she looked you over. She’ll know what you last ate and how many fleas are in your mane. Don’t ask me how they know, but they do.” She paused and looked about, fearful of unseen ears that might overhear, “We should not be talking like this. They’ll find out. Now come on, we’ve really got to get out of here.”

They left, walking together for a while before splitting up and going their separate ways as the final dying-blood red glow of the sun spilled through the grasses.

11. The Ears of the Hippopotamus

 

“…I know about all that. Now tell me about something important.”

“But you sent me and Falana there!”

“Yes, but not to find out about ‘the rock’ as you call it. I know all about that.”

To the Northwest, the bed rock that underlay the ridge broke surface forming crags no more than two lengths high. They were the Silent Rocks; they didn’t rise up out of the plain they were not a true kopje. They provided some shelter and were a good vantage point from which to survey the plain below. Shaha had decided, though precisely when even she had forgotten, that this was to be her home when she was in these lands. She was often lazed on the top, forelegs dangling over the edge, dozing the day away.

She, and her daughter too, avoided the enormous rock Nengwalamwe had claimed. There was nothing wrong with Silent Rocks; it was a good enough spot for lions to call home; but Nengwalamwe’s rock was better in practically all senses, and far bigger. Nengwalamwe knew it and so felt frustrated and confused. Hadn’t Shaha herself sent him to show Falana his home? Why just Falana? Surely, Shaha wanted to know about it too? Why didn’t she already know about it, but then she had just said she did.

“What about the cave? You can’t pretend you know about that.”

“Yes Nengwalamwe. I know about that too. I was… well… I know it very well. I can even guess what it means to you. That’s why I told Falana to go with you.”

He grew even more confused. He could not see how Shaha could know about his desire to explore beyond the rocky barrier at the cave mouth. Come to that he could not see how Shaha, whose scent he had not detected anywhere on the rock, could know about a place to which she clearly had never been. The only lioness he’d seen who could have, if she could even in truth be called a lioness yet, was Yali. She seemed at home on the rock, as if playing there was as natural as being washed by her mother. Who was her mother? Hadn’t she just denied being Falana’s cub? She could not have been Shaha’s; she was surely too old for cubs and anyway, she did not behave like a nursing mother.

“She said you’d asked her.”

“She would say that, Nengwalamwe. Why is it that you always only see the ears of the hippopotamus?”

The surprise caused by Shaha’s words flew upon him like an eagle snatching a rat. He was rocked by her question. He knew that it wasn’t a question. It was a statement of a truth so plain that he would never have seen it for himself. To see it, or for it to be shown, was one thing. It was an entirely different matter for him to accept and believe it. “What do you mean? I can see what’s happening. I know where I’m at.”

“Why are you here Nengwalamwe?”

“I’m trying to tell you about my afternoon with your daughter.” He knew that that was not what Shaha wanted to hear.

“Why do you stay here? Why don’t you wander off into the night?”

“I’m a lion; I don’t have to have a reason. Even if I did, I’m not going to tell you.”

Shaha smiled to herself and raised a paw that trembled visibly.

“If you were my cub I’d cuff you from here to the waterhole for that.”

“Go on then - I’d like to see you try!”

“Nengwalamwe!” she said sharply, her patience evidently thinning, “I’m not here to trade threats with you.”

“As I said, I want to know what your intentions are?”

“What? You never asked me that. What intentions?”

“I see…” she said tilting her head and shaking it gently. “Your intentions towards Falana.”

“Oh, her....” Nengwalamwe said as dismissively as he dared.

“Yes her, my daughter.” Shaha paused, “Why else would a lion like you hang around here?” She stopped, and raising her eye ridges added, “There’s nothing else here for you, is there?”

“There’s plenty of prey, not that you seem to be able to catch it. But there’s more to a lion’s life than food, much more.”

Shaha shoulders slipped off Nengwalamwe’s insult. “What if there is, Nengwalamwe? Are you more than a lion? When I was a cub the lions I knew were kings, not just lions.”

“You were a cub? No way Shaha, you were born old, you could never know what it’s like to be young. This land’s for the young. We own it so you had better just lie down and curl up all day and let me get on with the real action.”

“Action? ‘We’ own it? Who are these ‘we’? Now listen Nengwalamwe: I’ve been there. I’ve done things that you’d scarcely be able to imagine. I hunted with kings and seen the sun set on them all. I’ve run all day and all night for my cubs and I’ve seen more ‘action’ than you’ve dreamed about. I’ve done all that and more and I can still hunt you down. You’re just like any other lion. You’re nothing special. That’s why Falana doesn’t think anything of you, because you’re just like all the rest.”

“Hah! See, you don’t know anything - there isn’t any rest! Where are these lions? You frightened them all away didn’t you? No wonder Falana hates me, with you around, I’m not surprised she’s as she is. You’re through, you won’t have long to go, then you can put your paws up forever! I’m the one. I’m gonna be the lion on the Pridelands! I’m gonna be the king!”

 Shaha stood impassively during Nengwalamwe’s tirade. When he had finished, she spoke quietly and resolutely. “You may be the only lion here Nengwalamwe, but that does not make you a good lion, and it certainly won’t make you king. Here you may never be the king; there’s already a queen and she’s a dog. Falana won’t stay here forever. She wants cubs but she’ll not have a cub as their father. You had better sort yourself out if you ever want to be that father.”

“But my father is the king where I come from” he said defiantly.

“My father was the king here too, but things change. You had better change too, if you want to carry on living here. Here you are just a lion. Nothing more - you’re just a lion.”

“OK, OK, I get it! So, what do I have to do to get Falana to like me? Do I have to impress her eh? You tell me what I have to do - go on!”

“Don’t. Don’t try to impress, you’ll always fail and when you do you’ll just look like the cub you still are.”

“Oh sure! You’d like that wouldn’t you? I know what you’re up to! You get me to do nothing to attract your daughter and she ignores me. That way you two stay together just like the ‘old days’. Yeah - you’re just jealous because you ain’t my type and you don’t want anyone to take your precious little cubbie away from you! Wake up, Falana isn’t a cub anymore, she’s a lioness and she’s begging for it - she just don’t know it yet ‘cause she’s under your stiff and wrinkled paw. I’m not gonna be like you when I’m ancient, I’m gonna die before I get old!”

Nengwalamwe finally had had enough. He turned and moved off. He accelerated away and barely saw Falana approaching from the top of the closest rise. He turned and ran towards her, leaving Shaha staring after him. Fuming, he refused to look back and when he reached Falana he brushed roughly passed her and on out of sight over the rise. She looked on

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