A few days later, Wazu was in the jungle, standing anxiously over an egg. "Why isn't it hatching?"

Her friend, a zebra named Rick, said,

"Be patient. Be patient. Don't be in such a hurry.

If you get impatient, you'll only start to worry."

"Why must you always talk in rhymes?" Wazu groaned.

Makini came swinging through the trees. "Hey, Wazu, what are you so hectic about?"

"I laid this egg two days ago, and it hasn't hatched yet! Maybe it's a dud."

Makini laughed a screechy monkey laugh. "Eggs take a lot longer than two days to hatch!"

"I'm just so nervous," Wazu said. "This is the first egg I've ever laid."

Makini said, "You're a hornbill, right? I think Rafiki told me hornbill eggs take about 25 days to hatch. Or, um, was it 45?"

"Forty-five days!" Wazu squawked. "I can't wait around for forty-five days! Maybe I should just give my baby bird a little push along. Here, Makini, hand me that stick of yours…"

Makini handed it over to the bird, unsure of what she meant to do. Wazu clutched the staff in her wing and raised it over the egg.

"No! Are you crazy? You could hit his head!

Do you want him to be dead?" Rick shouted.

"Oh, a little knock on the back o' the head never hurt anyone," Wazu chuckled.

Luckily for her unborn child, Wazu was distracted just then by Savannah and Saba dashing towards her.

"Wazu! Wazu! Can you show us how to fly like you?" Savannah begged.

Wazu stroked the underside of her beak thoughtfully. "Hmm. No lion has ever come up with that idea before, so I have no idea if it'll work or not!"

"Well, can you try?" asked Saba.

"I s'pose so, but it won't work without wings. I know that much. We've got to get you some wings. Yeah, that's what we need." Of course, her grandfather Zazu would never have agreed to such a stupid idea, but Wazu wasn't like her grandfather.

"We could use these palm leaves," said Savannah. "Makini, would you please pull a couple of leaves down from the trees for us to use as wings?"

"Sure thing," Makini said. She pulled off four big leaves and tossed them down. Then the cubs tied them to their front legs with vines.

"I've gotta go now!" Makini said. "Let me know how it turns out, kay?" She started to dash off.

"You forgot your wood!

That's no good!" Rick called after her.

The monkey ran back and scooped up her staff. "Thanks, Rick!"

Wazu inspected the makeshift wings. "Mm, not bad. Now pay attention. I'll show you how it's done, and then you imitate me. Okay?"

"Okay," they said.

"Let's go out onto the plains where there's more space," Wazu said.

They left the trees and went out into the open, where they came upon Queen Kiara.

"Mom! Wazu's gonna show us how to fly!" Savannah shouted excitedly.

"You don't mind, do you, Your Highness?" Wazu asked.

Kiara smiled. She knew her children could never fly because they were lions, but where was the harm in letting them exercise their imaginations? "No, I don't mind at all. Have fun." She went on her way.

Wazu swooped into the air and flew in a circle above the cubs' heads. Savannah and Saba tried to imitate her, but they couldn't get more than a few feet off the ground.

"Why does it work for you and not for us?" Saba complained.

"Stronger, young master! You must be stronger with your wings! And more elegantly!" Wazu exhorted.

But they still couldn't do it.

"Don't feel too bad," said a passing ostrich. "I have wings, but I can't fly either."

"Do you remember when you learned to fly?" Savannah asked Wazu.

"Hmm, I think the first time I ever flew was from my nest," said Wazu. "Maybe it's hard for beginners to take off from the ground. Maybe we should find you two a nest to jump from. Huh, but it'd have to be a pretty big nest to fit a lion cub!"

Rick had been following them, and he said:

"Start from a stone.

That's how it's done!"

"That's the first sensible thing you've said in your life, mate," said Wazu. "Come along, little cubs. That rock over there looks good to me."

There was a big boulder lying nearby. Savannah scrambled up on top of it, but Saba couldn't quite make it and slid back down to the ground.

"Need a paw?" Savannah asked sweetly, holding her arm out to him.

Saba took her paw in his, and she pulled him up, but inside the young prince was feeling resentful. One more thing his sister was better than him at.

"So what do we do now?" Savannah asked.

"I'm tryin' to remember… hmm, you just run off, beating with your wings, yeah, that's all there is to it…" Wazu mumbled.

The cubs attempted to follow her advice. They jumped off the boulder, and tried to flap their homemade wings, but they just fell to the ground.

"Owwah! Owwah! My leg! Owwah!" Saba cried.

"Oh, my head," Savannah groaned. They were covered with bumps and bruises.

Just then their father, King Kovu, came storming up. "What's going on here!?"

Wazu covered her face with her wings. "Oh no! Mammoth mayhem!"

"Wazu, what have you been up to with my children?" Kovu demanded.

"The cubs were trying to learn to fly.

That's what made them cry!" Rick sang.

"I'm disappointed with you, Wazu," said Kovu. "You should know better."

"Does this mean you're not going to let me be the Royal Steward anymore?" the bird fretted. "Will I have to go back to my old job at the Kentucky Fried Chicken?"

"Did somebody say fried chicken?" Joshy popped up out of a hole in the ground.

"Oh, please, father, don't send Wazu away!" Savannah cried. "It wasn't her fault!"

"I'm not going to send her away," Kovu said. "But you all need to be more careful in the future."

Rafiki was summoned to treat their wounds. "It's not severe," he said. "Only abrasions and bruises."

"Well, I don't think we'll try to fly again," Savannah said.

"If tyin' branches to y'self was all it took to fly, we'd've heard about it long ago, wot," Joshy agreed.

Rafiki heard the hare's comment. He had a good idea of where those branches had come from. When Makini came to his tree that night, he spoke sternly to her.

"Did you give Savannah and Saba palm leaves so they could try to fly?" he asked.

Makini hung her head. "I am so, so, sorry. I'm one myopic mandrill. I'll never be wise enough to take your place as the Royal Mjuzi."

"Oh, don't say that." Rafiki waved his staff about. "Wisdom will grow with years. The Lions of the Past chose you as my successor, and they've never been wrong! Hoo-hoo!"

"I'll try to do better," Makini promised.

Rafiki wagged a gnarled finger at her. "Do not say try, young one. Those who strive never thrive. You must say you will do better!"

"Okay, I will do better!" she proclaimed, puffing out her chest.

"Excellent!" Rafiki laughed. "By the way, where is your staff?"

"Ohmygosh!" Makini ran frantically into the night.

Rafiki watched her go. He had faith that she would be well equipped to take up his mantle when the time came. Doubtless she would be the one to bless the next ruler of the Pride Lands.