KING OF THE FOREST!

(BIO FABLE)
ANISH BHATTACHARYA
Once upon a time, in a far off forest, there lived a lion
king named Simha. He was a great ruler and a warrior
and his kingdom was highly prosperous and his people
were a happy lot. He had never married, as he was too
focused on ruling his kingdom well and hence, had no
children. After many years of keeping his people happy
and prosperous, he had now grown old and his health
was failing him. He was afraid that if he died, there
would be no one left to rule the kingdom and his people
would suffer. He wanted a solution to this problem.
On the advice of several of his wise courtiers, he went
to the cave where sage Goverdhana (who was an owl)
sat, in deep meditation. The king bowed before him and
said Namaste oh great sage!, to which the sage
replied Greetings king Simha! Tell me, what bothers
you? The king immediately asked Oh great one!
Could you tell me how I can become immortal, so that I
can keep my kingdom happy for eternity?
The sage looked at the king for a moment, and burst out
laughing. Feeling slightly hurt, the king asked What is
so funny about my request? . The sage replied Your
intentions are very noble and I am truly impressed with
your love for your people but you are asking for the
impossible! No one can live forever. That is the rule of
nature. Change is the only constant- you will have to go
and someone else would take your place. The king
then asked Who would rule in my place? I have no
children.
The sage replied Naturally, you would have to select
someone of your kingdom to take your place. It is not
royal blood that makes a king, it is virtues. The king
now asked How do I decide who is the right animal to
become my successor?. The sage looked at the king
with a mischievous smile and said What would you do
if I told you everything? You think!
As the sage told, the king thought long and hard and
called a council which all the animals of the forest
attended. The agenda was to decide the successor. The
king first called out the tiger Shere Khan and said You
have great strength and skill which I myself admired at
times. Why dont you become the king? The tigers
wife Sherni interrupted and said, He is a loner and
does not even bother about me and the cubs, what good
would he do to the kingdom? The tiger gave a sheepish
smile and said True my Lord! I wont make a good
king as I enjoy being alone. However at any time,
should you feel that I can be of use to you, I shall be at
your service. Somebody from the crowd suggested
that Hiranyi (a spotted deer which was the head of a
large herd of deer) should be king, to which Shere Khan
replied By this time next week, he could well end up
as my breakfast. We need a more long lasting king.
The king now called munna the monkey to be the king
but the other animals immediately objected saying that
he would bring disgrace to the crown with his antics.
The king was running out of ideas. He definitely could
not make the crocodile or hippopotamus as king since
they did not know much about the land animals. Then
the king remembered his good friend and trusted
adviser, Rajan, the elephant. When he put forth Rajans
name, there was a general murmur of agreement.
Everybody knew that Rajan was much stronger than
either Simha or Shere Khan but was really gentle. He
had great intelligence and memory and also knew a lot
about the jungle because he travelled a lot.
Rajan came forward and said My Lord! I am honoured
that you chose me for this but. The king asked but
what? Do you also have a problem with being the
king? Rajan replied If you would not mind, then I
think that one person alone should not be the king.
Sensing that the king eyes had narrowed Rajan added I
feel that one animal alone does not possess all the
virtues to be an ideal ruler and at the same time, no
animal is worthless. Without the deer, you would die of
starvation, without the insects there would be no new
plants..everybody is useful and hence, everybody
should have a say in how the forest is run
The lion nodded and said Rightly said Rajan! Again
you have taught me that I have a lot to learn from you.
Let us then have a system where all animals have a say
so that there is no injustice to anyone. Now we should
think up some name for this system.
Chatura, the jackal spoke now: No need sire! For once
the humans have been of some use. They already have a
similar system in place and they call it demouhhm,
scratchyno wait.scary.oh ya, DEMOCRACY!
And thus, democracy was established in the jungle with
Rajan as the Prime Minster, Shere Khan as the defence
minister, Hiranyi as the herbivore welfare minister
and so on. Chatura was asked to deal with the ministry
of unnecessary free advices (a name suggested by the
ever sarcastic Shere Khan).
As for Simha, it was time to take some rest, maybe a
looooonnnnnggg nap.
 The End
Moral: Nobody in this world is worthless. Everybody,
however insignificant he may seem, has some
contribution to this world. So, never think of anyone
(including yourself), as useless.