Chapter 7

That night Oliver was able to sleep without any nightmares, and things went on pretty much the same for the next day, until Kiara came over and told Oliver, "I know what you did last night."

"What was that?" asked Oliver. "Don't play dumb with me, I'm smarter than I look, I know you helped Kovu out with that 'special' evening last night."

"Ok, so I helped a friend out, big deal."

"No I'm not saying it was a bad thing, but next time try to make Kovu come up with an idea that's his."

"Ok deal. Anyway I'm off to look for some things."

"Sounds cool what are you gonna use them for."

"Well as you know lions need to hunt from close up, right?"

"Well obviously."

"Well humans have ways to hunt from a distance."

"Oh really, I'd like to see that."

"Tell you what give me some time and I'll show you how it's done."


After a while Oliver came back with a whittled stick shaped like a semicircle, some smaller, straighter sticks, some feathers, and some pointed pebbles. "So you can hunt from those," said Kiara, "hard to believe."

"No I still need one more thing," said Oliver. He opened "The Book" and said, "Bring me some string." And in a flash of light it appeared. "Now once I put it all together I can hunt."

"Sure whatever," said Kiara, she was doubtful but also allittle curious.

After some time, Oliver stringed the bow, fastened the arrow heads onto one end of the sticks, and the feathers onto the other. Finally he opened the book and said, "Bring me an archery target." And in a flash of light, it appeared. "Now do you wanna see how this works?" Kiara was sunbathing on a nearby rock, "Sure." Oliver leaned the target on a nearby rock. "Ok now think of where you'd try to strike a prey," said Oliver.

"Ok."

"Ok now imagine that area, on the center of the target."

"Ok."

"Good now," Oliver set up the arrow, fired, and hit the center of the target. "Bullseye!"

"Actually I was thinking of the neck."

"It means, 'I hit the center.'"

"Yeah but a moving target is a lot harder to hit."

"Not if the target doesn't know your there."

"Please, I bet you've never even hunted any a prey in your life," taunted Kiara. "Well I might not have ever killed any live prey," said Oliver, "but that doesn't mean I haven't hit a moving target. Besides, where I'm from I'm famous for my drawings of animals in the wild."

"And that means?" asked Kiara. "It means that I can get close to live animals without them noticing me."

"Tell you what," said Kiara, "we'll have to go hunting again in a few days, I think I can convince Daddy to let you join us."

"Sounds fun," said Oliver, "After all I do wanna earn my keep."


"No, absolutely not," said Simba, "he doesn't know anything about hunting here." This upset Kiara, "But Daddy, he just wants to be useful to us."

"I said no Kiara, and that's final."

"If it makes you feel any better," said Oliver turning the corner, "where I'm from we have a saying, and that's 'we cannot punish a man in ignorance,' which is why we make sure everybody knows the laws of our land. So if your problem is that I don't know the rules of hunting in the Pridelands, then why don't you teach me."

"It's not as simple as that," said Simba. "What else is the problem?" asked Oliver. "You have nothing to protect yourself with," said Simba, "that's what."

"I have these," said Oliver holding out his bow, arrows, and pocket knife. "A few sticks and some sharp rocks, yeah you'll be completely safe," said Simba. "Listen Simba, I may not look it, but I can take care of myself, ok."

"Well I dunno."

"Well answer me this," said Oliver, "What is the largest prey, that a single lion could take down?" Simba thought for a moment then answered, "Probably a wildebeast."

"Ok, what if I told you with these I could easily do just that," said Oliver. Suddenly Simba burst out laughing, "I'm sorry but that's just not possible."

"C'mon," Oliver pleaded, "just give me one chance. What's the worst that can happen?" After all the begging Simba finally broke, "Fine you can go hunting, but you have to promise to learn and follow all of our laws."

"Deal!" shouted Oliver, "Thank you so much." And he instantly went up and hugged Simba, then quickly backed away, "My apologies, sire."

"No, no, it's all right," said Simba.