CHAPTER FOUR: SIMBA AND NALA
Simba didn’t have many friends of about his age that he played with. In fact, he didn’t have many friends, period. For one thing, being the next in line to the throne meant that his activities were restricted more than your average cub, which was off-putting to many would-be friends. For another, his cocky behavior was also irksome to many of his playmates. However, there was one lion cub that didn’t seem to mind having to put up with the restrictions of playing with the only child of Mufasa nor did she mind his cockiness. Her name was Nala.
No, he wasn’t in love with her. And if he had any romantic feelings toward her, he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, least of all Nala herself. Both of them thought being in love, at least at their tender age, to be gross. If you asked Simba about girls, he’d tell you that they had cooties and were meant to be friends but nothing more.
One day, the two were playing in the tall grass near Pride Rock. “I bet I can sneak up on and pounce on you without you seeing me before I get you.” Simba said.
“I don’t think so.” Nala laughed.
“I was practicing pouncing with my father. He let me use Zazu for practice.” Mufasa had gotten him to help with a pouncing lesson. Though the hornbill had heard him coming a mile away, he had let Simba get him so at least he could get his pouncing technique down correctly. Of course, Simba hadn’t known that he had failed at the silence part.
“Bet Zazu wasn’t happy.”
“Nope, but he always does what Daddy tells him to. And when I’m king, he’ll do whatever I tell him to.”
“It would be fun to boss Zazu around.”
“Enough about Zazu, I’m going to show you how good of a pouncer I am.”
“I’m can’t wait to see.”
Simba ran off into the grass while Nala sat there, tapping her paws against the ground, waiting. He moved as silently as he could, slowly inching toward her. As far as he could tell, Nala had no clue where he was. He jumped through the air toward her. However, Nala had heard him coming and jumped aside, causing him to crash into the tall grass. “You heard me coming, didn’t you?” She nodded. “What gave me away?”
“You were too noisy.”
“Too noisy?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you try and pounce on me then if you think you’re so good!”
“I didn’t say I thought I was better than you.”
“Go on, see if you can do better!” Simba didn’t like having his ego bruised. He had been certain that he would be able to pounce on Nala and knock her over before she could notice him. What had he done wrong? Maybe he wasn’t as good as he thought. Still, he didn’t think Nala could do any better.
Nala, meanwhile, crept off into the brush. She had only had a few pouncing lessons herself and didn’t think she could do much better than Simba had. Still, she crept as silently as she could toward Simba. She didn’t sense that he could see her or that he was aware of her. She stood there for nearly three minutes, hesitating. Finally, she jumped out at him.
Simba saw her about three seconds before she hit him. He wasn’t able to dodge her, but he was able to push back. This resulted in both of them being knocked to the ground. “Ha, you didn’t get me!” Simba declared smugly.
“I did better than you!” Nala retorted.
“Well….um…..well….um….” Simba tried to think of a good comeback but couldn’t think of any.
“That’s what I thought.” Nala said smugly.
Simba, having his pride wounded, lunged at Nala and tried to knock her over. However, she sidestepped him and then leaped upon him, pinning him to the ground. “Ha, pinned ya!” she laughed.
“What, pinned by a girl?! This can’t be happening!” Simba moaned, his face flush red with embarrassment and an even more bruised ego than he had had a moment before.
“Poor Simba, beaten by a girl!” Nala said smugly.
He pushed against her and knocked her off of him and to the ground. “Not for long!” he declared, moving toward her to try and pin her this time. Nala grabbed onto him right as he was about to land on her. The two wrestled, trying to pin down each other, and they rolled down a hill.
“Um, Simba….” Nala said in concern, noticing them heading toward a pit of mud.
“You won’t beat me, you won’t!” Simba bellowed, not seeing the approaching danger.
SPLAT! The two landed in the mud, getting their fur all dirty. “Aw man, mom just gave me a bath too!” Nala moaned.
“Good thing I haven’t had my bath yet,“ Simba remarked.
“Well, your mother will just give you a longer one now than she would have.”
“Argh!” Simba groaned and facepalmed, realizing that she was right. He really hated getting baths.
The two climbed up out of the mud pit. It was actually part of a creek bed, but due to a lack of rain, it was more mud than water and many parts of the creek had dried up entirely. “Let’s not go home yet. I want to put off a bath as long as I can.”
“So do I.”
The two were strolling around, trying to keep out of sight of their parents at Pride Rock, when they spotted two zebras, a mother and a teenager.
“Do you think that if you pull on a zebra’s tail, that it will cause it to break wind?” Simba asked.
“Don’t know. I’ve never really cared to try and find out.” Nala replied.
“I think I’ll go find out.” Simba said.
“I’m not sure the zebras will like that.” Nala sighed.
“I’m the future king. I can do what I want.” Simba laughed. He greedily eyed a teenaged zebra, who was currently complaining to his mother “Yuck, that grass looks disgusting! Too dry!” Do I have to eat it?”
“Yes, it’s the best we can find today. It hasn’t rained in a while.” his mother replied.
Simba slowly crept up on the teenage zebra, who was eating the grass, wrinkling his nose is disgust. After finishing off the grass, the zebra began to moan “My stomach doesn’t feel that great.”
Simba leapt up at the zebra from behind and yanked on his tail, just as he broke wind due to his upset stomach. PHHHHBT! “What do you know, it worked!” Simba cried excitedly as Nala was on all fours, banging the ground and laughing.
Mufasa, who was in the vicinity but hadn’t witnessed the incident, heard Nala laughing and came over to investigate. “Nala, what did you find so funny?” he asked. “And why are you covered in mud?”
“Long story about that, Dad.” Simba said, turning red with embarrassment.
“Simba pulled on a zebra’s tail and he broke wind. He was right. It does work.” Nala replied to Mufasa, still laughing hard.
Mufasa himself chuckled about the matter for a few seconds but, being a mature adult, soon composed himself and became serious again. “Simba, that’s no way to treat a zebra.” he scolded his son.
“I thought I was going to be the future king and could do whatever I wanted.”
“No, I didn’t and no you can’t. Come with me Simba.” He led him away form Nala.
“But you said we can even eat them.” Simba argued.
“Eat for food, yes. Yank on their tails to try and get them to break wind, no.”
“But I thought it was funny.” Simba said defensively.
“Maybe to you, but not to the poor zebra.”
“But I thought I was going to be the king and could do whatever I wanted.”
“A king cannot do whatever he wants.”
“What do you mean? Who is the boss of the king?” asked Simba, feeling both shocked and disappointed that the king had to answer to somebody.
“The job of the king is to uphold the delicate balance of the Circle of Life.”
“The Circle of Life?”
“It is the delicate balance among the creatures and between them and their environment.”
“How do you protect it?”
“By not overhunting or taking more than you need.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“It’s not enough for just you to not do it, you have to get others not to do it either.”
“You mean I have to go chasing after everyone else and make sure that they don’t overhunt or take more than they need to?”
“Yes, though a good king would inspire everyone to do the right thing without having to chase everyone.”
“Inspire? What’s that mean?”
“Your actions and words cause others to do the right thing and protect the delicate balance.”
“Can’t I just use my powers as king to make everyone do it?”
“Only bad kings act through force all the time.”
“Bad kings?” Simba hadn’t really thought of there being anything but a good king. In his view, being a king automatically made you good as he believed that a king could do no wrong and that the only ones who were wrong were those who disagreed with the king.
“Yes, some kings wanted power so that they could only help themselves.”
“Sounds, er, bad.” Simba replied nervously. He had always felt that the point of being king was to live a life of ease and boss everyone around. “So what should a king be doing then?”
“Putting others before themselves and making it their chief responsibility to ensure that the kingdom is run correctly and that everyone is treated justly.”
“What’s responsibility?”
“It’s where you watch over others and take care of them and also where you watch over something, like the Pridelands, and make sure that it isn’t harmed.”
“I hope I can handle this responsibility thing.”
“I’m sure you will, in time. Now, it’s time that you and Nala had your baths. Your mothers will be furious.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes.”
“Arrrrgh!” Simba groaned.
They returned back to Nala. “I’m afraid you’re going to need a bath too, Nala.” Mufasa said.
“Ug, no!” Nala moaned.
And so Simba and Nala each received a long bath. “I hate baths!” Simba grumbled. “When I’m king I’m going to make them optional!”
“You’d make a good king, ” Nala remarked, not liking her bath one bit either.
After they were done with their baths, they wandered off again, for there were still a few hours of daylight remaining.
Simba felt a bit let down. The attempt of Mufasa’s to impress upon him the importance and responsibility of the king looking out for others and maintaining the balance of the Circle of Life had gone right over his head.
“What’s the matter, Simba?” Nala asked him, sensing that something was troubling him.
“Based on what dad said, being king isn’t going to be anywhere near as fun as I’d thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“He mentioned that it came with a lot of responsibility.”
“What’s responsibility?”
“Apparently you have to look after others and not just do what you want all the time.”
“Sounds like a punishment.”
“I agree. Maybe when I’m king, I can get rid of some of this responsibility stuff.”
“It’s getting late. I’d better get going.”
“See you tomorrow, Nala.”
