Python
When I encountered the python, he was dragging the tip of his tail through the dirt while the rest of his body remained coiled in a tight circle.
"Good evening," I greeted.
"Is it?" He looked toward the sun, which had begun to sink. "I suppose it is. How was your day, bird?"
"I fulfilled my duties to the king. What more can we ask?"
He continued drawing lines and assorted shapes in the loose soil.
"What manner of art is this?" I queried.
"I'm trying to crack the code. There are spies who spy on counterespionage."
I frowned.
The python continued his explanation. "Everyone knows the king, so he dispatches you, and you hire the gopher and a few other attendants. Of course, Shenzi would never permit that, so she sends out spies of her own, smaller cats and snakes and birds of prey to catch the spies you hire. Naturally, the cheetahs wish to avoid both lions and hyenas, so they employ meerkats, an animal that is able to communicate with gophers and prey on snakes. Then the rats decide they'll give information to anyone who has food, so they begin selling information without loyalty to any side. For once, all sides are united against a common enemy, so everyone does what they can to kill the rats. What started as a way for Mufasa to stay informed about his subjects has grown over the years into mistrust to the point of mass hysteria. None of the burrowing creatures trust each other anymore, yet new spies are still sent out daily."
I crossed my wings in front of me. "Why is this web of treachery of interest to you?"
"Because I never know who I'm eating." He yawned, an irritating habit of his species. "I don't eat vervets, though. Ever since that one was kind enough to help me out when I got pneumonia, I've stopped eating them. I never know who might be a friend or relative of hers."
"The one who works with the hyena?"
He nodded.
"If this hyena has been following her Ladder of Corporate for years, why did I not notice her before today?" I wondered aloud.
"During Mufasa's reign, you were too preoccupied. During Scar's reign, she blended in."
To my surprise, the python told me a little of the hyena's origins.
Many, many kingdoms south of ours, there was a reigning matriarch who had borne an infant daughter, and the clan rejoiced, for the princess would one day inherit the clan, but unfortunately, it was not to be. On the night the princess was old enough to join her clan in the hunt for the first time, they were attacked by the lion king.
This King of the South had three hobbies: murdering hyena queens, being disloyal to his mate, and executing even more hyenas, especially of royal blood. He caught the matriarch and broke her back. She died just as her young daughter reached her side.
As the princess was still very young, another female usurped the clan. The princess had lost all status and was even bullied by young cubs.
Determined not to remain surrounded by hostility, the princess had journeyed from her native land. She wandered vast savannas, facing starvation because she lacked skill in hunting. She had heard rumors that far to the north, there was a land where humans fed hyenas. Why not live there in peace?
However, when her voyage led her through the Pride Lands, she had encountered Rafiki. He had dropped to the ground from the branches of a short baobab when he had seen her.
"Who are you, fearless creature?" she queried.
"Oh, the better question is: Where are you going?"
"I have heard of a land where humans feed hyenas, and there is no fighting over scraps."
Rafiki laughed. "You heard about that from the humans, did you?"
"I hear a lot of things."
"Rather than chasing a myth, is it not better to accept reality? You take old Rafiki's advice and find a clan in a land where your prey has good grazing."
The former princess winced. "I hate hunting. It brings back painful memories."
Rafiki stroked his beard. "But if you are a scavenger, don't you fear for your life? Other animals will not give up their food so easily."
"I know." Her stomach rumbled at the mention of food. "I'm so hungry that I would do anything for food."
"Anything, you say? Even hunt it yourself?"
"I've had to do that," the hyena admitted, "but there's no pleasure in it." She shook her head sadly. "All this killing, this stealing, this war, this hatred…! I was born a hyena. It is my place in the Circle of Life. But does this mean I am condemned to eternal battle? Even a hyena has pity on other species! I just wish I could improve lives rather than destroy them!"
Rafiki nodded. "Ah, a most worthy cause."
The hyena moved her ears. "Do you hear that? A lion cub has lost its way in the dark."
"You did say you were hungry."
"No. I'm going to help it find its mother so it will not feel the pain I have felt all these months. If the lioness misunderstands my intentions and executes me, so be it. At least I'll have died for a worthy cause."
Unbeknownst to the hyena, Rafiki had been keeping a sharp eye on the distressed cub the entire time. He remained unseen in the shadows, ready to intervene at once if her hunger overcame her.
When the hyena heard the unmistakable sound of a lioness calling for a lost cub, she set down the small creature and fled a safe distance, but she watched, not daring to leave until the mother and cub were reunited.
At this point, the python ended his tale.
"But what happened next?" I demanded. "How did she learn the healing arts? How did she ease her hunger pangs? How did she eventually discover Rafiki had been observing her? Which cub was it? How did she meet the vervet monkey?"
The python flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth. "Sorry. That's all I know."