Just a short story I invented, on how cub Taka recieved his scar. This is my idea, there have been others, such as him being attacked by a badger or gored by a buffalo in adolescence. Please enjoy. )
It was a beautiful day for exploring the Pride Lands. Laughing, the two brothers raced each other across the savannah. With a 'rrraaarr', Taka dived at Mufasa, knocking him off his feet and pinning him down on the grass. Slightly annoyed with his brother, Mufasa attempted to shove Taka away, but as he did so, Taka yelped and sprang away. He began to pace, batting his face with his paw and moaning, clearly distressed. It was then that Mufasa realized.
"Taka, shhh!" Mufasa gulped, trying to calm his brother down. Taka's little body heaved with hysterical sobs, his limbs trembling with panic. "It's just a little cut…"
"It hurts!" Taka repeated over and over. "It hurts, it hurts! I can't see!"
Mufasa was scared now. He knew he was in big trouble. He could hear his father now. So many times he had told his son not to play-fight with his claws unsheathed…
"It hurts!" Taka moaned, curling up into a little ball on the grass. Tears rolled down his cheeks, mixing with the blood oozing from a nasty vertical laceration over his left eye.
"What's going on here?" boomed a voice from behind them. Mufasa froze. Uh-oh.
"Dad," Mufasa said, trying to keep his own voice from wobbling. "We were just playing… I didn't mean…"
"It hurts!" Taka interrupted. Ahadi gasped when he saw his son.
"Dad, I'm so sorry! He pinned me, I couldn't…"
"My boy!" Ahadi cried, barely acknowledging Mufasa. He rushed over to Taka and swept him into his arms. He grasped the cub's damp, tear-stained face with a huge, gentle paw and licked away his tears and the blood that was still literally pouring from his wound.
"It hurts," Taka whimpered, his eyes clenched tightly shut, his little face screwed up with pain. "Where's mother? I can't see. I can't see!"
Without another word, Ahadi grabbed Taka by the scruff of the neck and bounded off towards Rafiki's tree. Mufasa, wracked with guilt, scrambled after them, stumbling as he struggled to keep up.
Rafiki was sat in the upper branches of his baobab tree home, humming quietly to himself and making colourful handprints on the tree bark when he heard the soft approach of lion's paws. Gleefully, he swung down to greet his visitors, but stopped when he saw Ahadi's worried expression, a sobbing little Taka in his grasp. Mufasa stood behind them, his head bowed with shame.
Ahadi settled the cub at the mandrill's feet. Rafiki knew exactly what to do. Without a word, he swung back up the tree to fetch the various herbs and plants he had collected across the Pride Lands, which he used for medical purposes. He then swiftly leapt back down and, settling his stick to one side, set to work on the cub. Firmly but gently, he turned Taka's face upward to examine the wound.
"Keep still now. This may sting a little," the mandrill said. Gently, he cleaned the wound to prevent infection from setting in, and applied a mixture of herbs to stem the bleeding and to give it a chance to heal. All this time, little Taka whimpered softly, clenching his teeth and clawing the soil when it stung.
Ahadi and Mufasa watched in silence as Rafiki worked.
"Dad, will Taka lose his sight because of me…?" Mufasa quietly asked, worried. Ahadi gave a long, concerned sigh.
"I don't know, son. I just don't know."
End.