THE FOOLISH MANDATE

Once upon a time
Lion was the king of the jungle
It fed on all animals
And constantly reminded the others
…they were nothing but inferior creations
He worked them like non-livers
And used them like his tools
Until the animals decided to dethrone him
Lion was banished with his family
…into the evil forest

II
Dog, who was the instigator for the dethronement
Took over the jungle
Dog started living like Lion
…tasking all animals to gift him things
But all animals in the kingdom,
…no matter how aggrieved they felt,
Never felt inferior
…due to their weight
They never felt inferior
…due to their sizes
They never felt inferior due to their colours

III
A Snake,
…in its bid to be king
Started a rumour that Birds are saying
…all crawling animals are inferior
And walking animals, including the Dog family, agree
Hoping Crocodiles,
…Alligators,
…Crabs,
…other Snakes,
…Lizards,
…Chameleons
Will join hands to oust Dog from his seat

IV
Tongues did wag
The crawling animals threatened
Some demonstrated
But most Birds kept mute
Knowing the rumour had no bases
But the scheming snake pushed harder
Asking for Lion to be brought back
Claiming his tenure better than Dog’s

V
The Snake gave an instant where Dog
…consumed meat for many
In his bid to work for them
So all the animals forgot of the animal freedom
…they enjoy
And decided to banish Dog to the land of humans
In order to bring back Lion
Saying snake is unfit to be king

VI
Lion came back a bigger monster
With Tigers who shared their bony meat
And hyenas who cleared their vomits
Lion roared fiercely to work the animals
He hunted aggressively to kill the edibles
He insulted harshly to demean the inedibles
And grew his family to starve the jungle of many animals
Some went extinct
And others like Fowls
…ducks
…cats
…parrots
Fled the jungle in fear
Thus ended the tale
…of the foolish mandate
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 3, 2020