Simba and Kovu were coming back from the final rounds of their day. It had been exhausting. Feuds between the Crocodiles and Wildebeest over water territories were getting absolutely nowhere, there were some petty squabbles between the Leopards and Cheetahs over some damn fool thing in the eastern part of the kingdom, and the pair had to remind the rhinos yet again to stop encroaching on elephant lands. It was a chore.
"Is being a king always like this?" Kovu asked. "This entire day was nonissue after nonissue."
Simba replied "Yes, there are a lot of days like this. Epic battles and getting your way isn't all there is to being king. In fact, a good king almost always has to compromise with his subjects, make sure everyone is happy."
"I guess it'll have to grow on me in time" Kovu said.
"Oh, it won't" Simba muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Kovu asked
"Nothing, nothing at all." Simba replied
The two continued walking on to pride rock, asking questions, making the occasional joke here and there, but mostly just trying to avoid any more animals for the day so they could get home and eat something. Then, Zazu flew over to the pair.
"Good afternoon, Zazu." Simba said
"Good afternoon, Sire. I have come to inform you that the human at pride rock has woken up. He still cannot walk, but he can remember everything and speaks just fine. He says his name is Joseph Mcdonald."
"Wait, he has two names?" Kovu asked.
"It beats me, too. But, he is awake, and is awaiting your company."
"Thank you, Zazu. You may go home for the day."
"Very well, Sire."
"Well" Simba began, looking at Kovu with a smile "Let's meet Joseph Mcdonald."
"Wait!" Kovu said "Are you sure it's safe? He's a human. I've heard stories that they hunt lions. Some of them carry around these sticks that spit… lightning or something. They can kill anything. I think he's dangerous."
"Well, Kovu… I'm sure they've heard stories that we hunt them. And besides, you can't judge the many based on the actions of a few. We have to give him the benefit of the doubt at first. We'll see who he is. For now, he is a guest in the Pridelands, and he will be treated with respect. Besides, look what happened when I judged you at first. You certainly didn't like it."
Kovu, realizing Simba's point, decided to stop talking and keep walking.
Once they got to the den where Joseph was recovering, they stepped in, and gave a formal greeting.
"Hello, Joseph Mcdonald. I am Simba, King of the pridelands, and this is the prince, Kovu." he said, gesturing to the lion at his side.
Joseph, looking for the right words to say, looked over the lions for a minute. He wanted to try not to piss them off, because they were really huge and muscular, and they could easily make dinner out of them if they so wanted to.
"Your Higness, I am Joseph Mcdonald, born in the United States of America. I was flying from Maputo, a city in Mozambique, to Johannesburg, a city in South Africa, south of here. However, my airplane caught fire, and I crash landed here. That is what you saw. I want to thank you dearly for saving my life." Joseph offered an open hand to Simba. Simba, not knowing this gesture, just gave a quizzical look to him.
"What are you doing?" Simba asked.
"Offering a handshake. Oh, right. You just hold out your… uh… paw, and we shake hands. It's a gesture of friendship." Joseph tried to explain. Simba stuck out his left paw, which made an odd situation considering that Joseph stuck out his right hand, so both of their palms were facing the same way.
"Other paw" Joseph said. After finally negotiating the logistics of a simple handshake, the pair continued talking.
"So, Joseph, what is this 'United States of America' where you are from? Is it a human pride?"
"Of sorts. Human settlements are arranged into countries or nations. Nations can be made up of states, states of counties or districts, and those can be made up of towns. Unless you are in a country that doesn't run on a state system. Then… Ugh, it takes forever to explain. All you need to know is that it is a Human 'Pride' that is halfway around the world, spans the majority of an entire continent, and has about 300 million people."
Simba, completely awed by the wall of information that was coming to him, asked the first thing on his mind. "What do you mean, half way around the world? Isn't the world flat?"
Joseph, having to explain for the first time in his life things that seemed common knowledge to everybody he knew before, said "Yeah, the world is a round object. It doesn't have an edge. For instance, if you started here, and went east for a long enough time, you'd end up right back here."
Every animal in the cave, which included Zazu, Simba, Kovu, and all the lionesses listening in from outside the cave, was utterly confounded by this new world view.
But Simba, knowing he had to move on, kept talking to the human. "How many of your kind is there, Joseph?"
"In total? By now, about seven billion." Joseph said.
Everyone listening gasped. Seven billion was a number so large, they could barely wrap their heads around it.
Kovu then spoke up. "If you have such security in numbers, why do your people hunt lions?"
Joseph, doing his best to answer the question, said "We don't. We made poaching illegal. A long time ago."
Kovu, yelling now, said "THEN WHY DO THEY STILL HUNT US?!"
Joseph, flinching from Kovu's roar, yelled back "BECAUSE THE POTENTIAL PAYOFF IS HIGHER THAN THE RISK OF GETTING CAUGHT!"
"What do you mean?"
Joseph sighed. "Lion skins sell for a lot of money in illegal markets. Some people are willing to take the risk for the money it pays, which can support them for years."
"What is money?" Kovu asked. This was going to be a long day.
"Ugh… Money is a type of currency that can be exchanged for goods and services" Joseph explained.
Simba stepped in. "Kovu, I don't like that you had to yell at our guest. He doesn't have malevolent intentions. He came here by accident, and he is stating things that he knows. He just woke up from a terrible injury, he's in a lot of pain, and he's far away from any family or friends" Joseph chimed in "Thanks for reminding me just how bad my situation is." Some lionesses outside of the cave chuckled a bit from this, but Simba continued. "If you are going to be a King someday, you have to learn to have some empathy for people in need, and that not everybody is bad. I thought you'd learn that last week when I accepted you and the outlanders into my pride and let you be with my daughter. I am disappointed in you."
Kovu, with his head hung low, simply said "Sorry, Simba."
Simba replied "I'm not the one you should apologize to."
"My apologies, Joseph. I acted out of turn and let my prejudices get the better of me."
The fact that a prince was asking his forgiveness gave Joseph an odd feeling. "I accept, Kovu."
"Now, I am assuming you are very hungry. Do you eat meat, fruits, or plants?" Simba asked.
Joseph said "Humans are omnivores. They can eat whatever they want. But meat takes a little more preparation. I'd have to start a fire, cook the meat for a little bit to make it safe to eat, the-"
Kovu asked "Wait, why would you have to burn the meat before you ate it?"
Joseph sighed. He had a lot of things to explain to these lions.
