I've been in the Lion King fandom long enough to discover something, Zazu and Pumbaa don't get enough love and attention as the other characters do. I've seen a few well done pictures of Zazu and even a few well-written stories about him, but as for Pumbaa, I've rarely seen any pictures of him and I don't think I've ever seen a story featured around him. So in honor of our kind, compassionate pig, I'm making a story about Pumbaa's origins.
Also this might be the longest Pumbaa story ever made.
I own nothing. The Lion King and all its content belong to Disney. I don't own the cover image either.
Enjoy the story!
The breeze blew through the branches, rustling the leaves and sending the sunlight dancing on the ground. The air smelled of warm earth and green. A slight cloudburst had appeared just a few minutes ago and disappeared as soon as it gave, moistening the world with a light sprinkle. While many insects ducked for over, some worms had poked their heads out of the dirt and crawled out, exposing their pink, tube-like bodies in the sun.
For a warthog, this was perfect. He eagerly slurped them up before they could dive back into the ground. The sunlight fell upon his back, warming him up and only furthering his good mood.
All of a sudden, he heard a thump right beside him, followed by a growl. He let out a shriek and bolted a few yards, hoping to escape the creature who had startled him.
"Uncle Pumbaa! Wait up!"
His ears picked up the familiar voice and he stopped, wheeling around till he was looking back to where he was. A honey colored cub trotted over to him, bearing a sheepish expression.
"Kiara," he asked, earning a nod and a weak laugh from her.
"Yeah. Sorry, I was practicing my hunting skills, and you were right there... so." He nodded back, sending a smile her way.
"Oh, I understand. Man, you were really close. I hadn't even heard you coming till you leapt out." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Ah, that brings back memories. You know before I met your mother, she actually chased after me. It wasn't until your father and Timon intervened till we got acquainted."
"Really? That's interesting. You know my dad told me about how mom just showed up one day and they reunited. Uncle Timon said that it was one of the more exciting experiences he had ever had." She then leaned her head and looked to the sides of him. "Speaking of which, where is Timon?"
"Oh Timon? He's gone out to see his family and how the rest of his colony are doing. He'll be back later today." He let out another sigh. "That's nice, you know. Just taking time out of your day just to go see and spend time with the ones you love. Really sweet."
"Yeah," she agreed, before looking back up at him. "So, what about your family?"
The big, red warthog nearly reared back in shock. "What?"
"Your family." she then stared at him with a confused expression. "Don't you have a family?"
"Of course I have a family. I consider you and Timon and Bunga and your brother and father all part of my family."
"No, no, no. Well yes, but- I mean don't you have a family-family? A mom, dad, siblings?"
She stared at him, noting with concern the distant look in Pumbaa's eyes and the strange look on his face. He let out a sigh after a few moments and sat down. "Kiara, what am about to tell is something I have never told anyone else before. Not even Timon."
"Not even Timon," she repeated, shocked.
"Not even Timon." His forelegs bent his laid down, motioning with his head for her to do the same. "If you'll lend me your ear, I'll tell you the story of my life before I met Timon."
"My earliest memories were when I was a little piglet. I was the last of my litter, the runt. However, I was my mom's only piglet. All my other siblings were gone after a leopard attacked my family. This made my mom very protective of me, yet we were very close. She was really pretty. I can still remember her laugh, playing in the mudholes together, munching on grubs, and listening to stories at night before bed."
"But what about your dad?"
"My what?"
"Your dad. Were you close to him too?"
"My dad... he.. well, we never really did anything together. He wasn't mean to me, he just... didn't pay much attention to me. He wasn't ever impressed by me and the only times I ever saw him were when me and mom went out for walks. Mom said he was very proud and strong. He always drove away anything that that might harm us and he kept me and mom safe, but that was really it. I can still remember one of the last talks he had with mom."
"Adofo, please. Spend time with your son. He needs you."
"I want nothing to with him, Aisha. I've told you, he's too weak. He won't be able to fend for himself when he grows up."
"But that's why he needs you. Train him fight, teach him to defend himself. You can't just isolate him from you. You have to be a father to him."
As his parents argued outside the den, he curled up tighter into his grass nest and tried to cover his ears with his hooves.
"Wow. I-I never knew. How could anyone treat their family like that." Pumbaa placed a hoof on her shoulder and gave a smile.
"Well, it doesn't matter now. Remember, I helped raised your father, and seeing how he turned out alright, so did I." she nodded and returned to the smile.
"So when did you meet Timon?" His grin grew wider and he straightened back up again.
"We'll get to that. Now we're," he paused for a moment, "getting to a part where I wish I could forget. It was a dark, moonless night and my mom and I were heading back late to our den from a walk when... everything changed.
"Mommy, what is it?"
"Pumbaa, stay close." Shadows darted around them. He pressed against his mother for safety, eyes wide with fear as he searched around them. One moment, he saw a figure streak around, the next it vanished.
He huddled closer as a frightening growl reached his ears. He felt his mother tense up above him and saw her spread her front hooves apart before lowering her head and tusks to the ground.
A loud snarl split the air and he saw through her legs a pair clawed paws, a blur of spots, and fanged, razor teeth charged towards them. He squealed as he felt something hard kick into the side, sending him out from under his mother and rolling a few feet away.
"Pumbaa! Run!"
His legs obeyed before his mind could process. He sprinted blindly through the darkness, listening to his mother's worries calls for him and the loud growls and snarls behind him. He kept running until he could no longer hear his mother telling him to run and she and the leopard had faded into the night. Only then did he collapse into a tuft of grass and let out all of his emotions out.
The warthog stopped his tale and stiffened as he felt a warm, furry body embrace his chest and drop of moisture pressed against his fur. He looked down to see Kiara hugging him and crying. A wave of emotion flooded over him and his hoof came to rest on her back as tears began falling from his eyes and down his snout.
"It's okay Kiara. I-I've gotten over it." He sniffed. "It's been quite awhile since I've thought about her. She... she was the best mom anyone could wish for. I really miss her."
Dark brown eyes blearily looked up into the early morning sky. He let out his breath, watching it form a mist right before his snout. He shivered suddenly, feeling the chill of the evening dew cling to his skin. His body instinctively curled up, trying to gain as much as the little amount of heat from his hastily-made, grass nest. His eyes closed, trying to get in a few more minutes of sleep.
They widened not a few seconds later at the feeling of warm air being puffed onto his face. His eyelids open, revealing the pink nose, dark tan fur, and light brown eyes looking curiously at him. He squealed in shock and his hooves covered his eyes as the figure backed away.
"P-please don't hurt me," he pleaded.
"What? I would never hurt anyone, especially a young creature."
The voice sounded warm and sweet. Slowly, his hooves fell off his eyes and looked at the striped figure before him. A mongoose.
"Are you okay, little one," she asked, creeping closer to him. He flinched back a bit when he saw the pointy teeth in her mouth for a moment, but sniffed and tried to repress the newly formed tears in his eyes.
"I- I think so."
"What are you doing out here," she asked, coming closer to him and laying down at eyelevel with him. He sniffed again and a tear dripped down his face and onto the grass.
"L-I... muh-my mu-mommy. Sh-he... a l-leopard and... and... she told me to run... but-"
"Oh sweetheart."
He was embraced by the long, furry mammals, someone he had never known before now, yet at the moment he didn't care one bit. All he wanted to do was cry, and if this nice lady was letting him do so on her shoulder, he would do so.
"Her name was Nomusa. She was a mongoose who had children who were all grown up and left. She became my foster mother over the years. She groomed me, taught me how to find grubs on my own, and tucked me in at night. But there was also another creature who I grew up with."
A nice, crunchy beetle here. A juicy, slimy worm there. A fallen long was a treasure trove of grubs. After breaking off the outer bark, he dove his snout in and began to feast. Nomusa was out doing her own hunting elsewhere, as well as gathering fresh grass for the den. She had shown him how to gather the best materials for a grass nest and was in the process of teaching him how to build one for himself. His first few attempts were, as she put it, natural for a beginner, but he was slowly improving.
He flinched when something hit him in the head, distracting him from his meal and looking beside the log to see what it was. A half-eaten, round, green fruit lay by his hooves.
"Excuse me, but do you mind picking that up and handing it back to me."
"What?" His head swiveled up to the tree nearby an he spotted a grizzled-grey monkey staring at him with his black face and brown eyes. "Oh sure."
Carefully placing the fruit between his tusk, he lifted his head suddenly up, sending the fruit flying till it was caught. "Thanks," the monkey replied before chomping into the rest of his diku fruit with glee.
"My pleasure," he replied before resuming his meal.
"I've seen you with that mongoose before. Nom-, Nomi-"
"Nomusa. She's my mom." A small string of laughter erupted from the primate.
"Mother? Your mother is a mongoose?! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
"It's true. She took me in when I got separated from my mother," he replied, trying not to sound offended by his behavior. To his surprise, the monkey immediately shut up.
"Oh. I'm.. I'm sorry. I didn't know," he apologized. Pumbaa just shrugged.
"Eh Hakuna Matata. Names Pumbaa by the way." The monkey smiled and nodded.
"Kontar."
"He became like the brother I never had. We did everything together. Play games, hunting for bugs and fruit. He sometimes played a few tricks on me, but none of them went to far. Yep, I had a mom, I had a brother. Everything was going great for me."
Kiara was still curled up close to him, but her head was up and eyes fixated on him, clearly engrossed in his story. "So why didn't you stay?"
"Well," he scratched his head, "I can't really say. I grew up and I just felt like I needed to get out on my own. So one day, after saying my goodbyes to them, I left. I wandered far and wide, over great plains and sandy deserts. Till I finally came here, into the Pridelands, and then met Tmon. Then, well, I assume he and your dad have already told you that story, right?" She nodded. "Right, so, anyways, that's the story of my life. Perhaps not as thrilling as Timon's, but still impressive by its own standards."
"That was great. Thank you for telling me," Kiara said, getting up and stretching. Pumbaa nodded and followed the suit.
"You're very welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, Timon should be getting back soon and I want to see him when he gets back."
"Pumbaa. Wait." The warthog halted again and looked back at her.
"Yeah?" She walked over to his side and looked up at him.
"Do you ever miss them? You adopted family, I mean." She watched as a longing feeling appeared in his eyes.
"Well yes. I often wonder how their coming along without me. I'm pretty sure they're doing fine."
"Well why don't you just visit them and see for yourself," she asked. He paused for a moment, before turning towards her and giving her a wide smile.
"You know what? That's not a bad idea."
"Hee hee hee hee hee! C'mon, Nom'. You gotta jump higher than that if you really want it," a vervet monkey teased as he swung on a vine. Dangling from his hands was a bundle of dried grass, and below his hand, jumping up and down to get it was an elderly mongoose.
"Ooh," she huffed, "you get down here and give that back."
"C'mon Nom. Nom the mongoose. Jump, jump, jump." Finally, his hand and her jump were timed and she yanked the grass from his hands, and also his grasp from the vine.
"Oh Kontar, Kontar, Kontar. Naughty monkey. You know better then that," she scolded, wagging her paw in front of his face as he dizzily looked up at her.
"Give me a break. I'm bored and I've got no one else to play with except the hedgehogs, and even they aren't very fun," he complained as he sat up. Getting to work, her paws set down the bundle of grass and ran through his fur, removing any small leaves, dirt, or grains of sand from his coat.
"I'm afraid you'll have to make do with what you have. It's not like there's really anyone else out here who would play with you. At least, not without you nagging them till they submit first," she replied.
"Hey! I'll have you know that I-"
He paused suddenly, making her look up from her grooming session and up at him in curiosity. His hand was shielding his face from the sun as he narrowed his eyes and looked out into the distance.
"Kontar," she asked.
"What is that?" She turned and squinted out into the distance where a blurry shape seemed to be approaching them. "It looks like-"
"Nomusa! Kontar!"
Their eyes widened in shock and they stood up straight with their mouth gaping at the friendly, familiar figure ran towards them.
"Pumbaa!"
I tried finding African names that went with the character's personalities. Here they are:
Adofo(warrior)= Deceased. Warthog. Pumbaa's father and Aisha's husband. Strong, cold, proud. Not much of a father to Pumbaa.
Aisha(life)= Presumably deceased. Warthog. Pumbaa's mother and wife to Adofo. Sweet, kind, shy, protective, a bit soft-spoken.
Nomusa(compassionate, merciful)= Alive. Mongoose. Pumbaa's adopted mother figure. Personality like her name, motherly, a bit sassy.
Kontar(only child)= Alive. Vervet monkey. Pumbaa's adopted brother figure. Cheeky, mischievous, yet kind.
Interesting fact, both mongooses and vervet monkeys have been shown to groom warthogs, so I thought it was just fitting that they would have a relation to Pumbaa based on real life.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading my story. I hope this inspires you to do one's highlighting the less loved characters. Please leave a review and feel free to check out some of my other stories. Sincerely, v.t.7