"Hurry up, dad, wake up!" Simba was eager to bother his pop into awakening. However, since most animals aren't up and alert when it's still dawn, they don't exactly rush up from their spot to please the little cub.
"Ughh, please, make the little brat shut it so I can sleep." Sarabi yawned and turned herself over.
"Why do I have to do it? I'm up to my neck with all the duties as leader." Mufasa protested, still ignoring Simba's annoying repeating of "dad".
"And I carried him for three months, life's not fair. Now get out of here. I'm about to lose it with the kid."
Mufasa reluctantly listened to his wife and followed Simba out to the Pride Rock.
"Look Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom." Mufasa explained to his son, both watching the sun rise and shine with vigor. "Once I die you'll be king of it all."
"Cool! I mean, not the dying part I guess, but becoming king! I guess it's a mutually exclusive deal." Mufasa barely had time to feel offended as Simba asked an immediate question that reasonably comes up at his father's weird logic.
"What about that shadowy place?"
"It's beyond our bothers. You must never go there, Simba."
"Why?"
The mighty king was caught off guard by the question as it was not in the script.
"Why? Err…" Mufasa rambled before clumsily settling for an answer that would hopefully be satisfactory.
"W-well… it's ominous looking and all that. It could be dangerous."
"Yeah, but… why? Without darkness there can't be light and vice versa. If darkness is so important, it can't be dangerous to go past those borders. Surely you must have a more well-rounded argument than it simply being dark over there."
"Well, you see, it's normal for bad creatures such as hyenas and bats to lurk over there because dark bad." Mufasa doesn't realize how bad his argument sounds in a modern world.
"Have you ever talked to them?" Simba blinked confusedly up at his dad.
"No… but, I know a few hyenas who hate lions and wants to kill them, especially if they're royalty. It's best to avoid them."
"So you mean a few bad apples spoil the bunch?"
"Exactly. Better to avoid them all than to risk meeting those who want you dead."
"Well that's kinda prejudicial, don't you think? You meet a few hyenas that hate lions and you decide all of them are bad. Aren't they kinda like us? We also hunt animals to survive."
"Look, Simba…" Mufasa uncomfortably flickered his gaze, wanting to move on from the topic. "It's a little more complicated than that…"
"Racism is complicated?"
"Let's talk about it another time, okay?" The king desperately tried to move on.
"I have another question." Simba inquired as he studied the pride lands closely.
"Go on." Mufasa allowed while hoping it would be of a different nature.
"Isn't the rule of not going to the shadowy place a bit… irregular?"
"What?" Mufasa felt thrown out of the loop.
"I mean, right now it's fine, I guess. But Earth always moves on a regular basis so obviously the sun won't be in the same place 24/7/365. What about noon? Or evening? Everything will cast shadows differently as the day goes by. Does that mean a certain spot belongs to us during the day, but because the shadow moves a couple of metres a few hours later, that spot would be theirs since it's now in shadow?"
"Err…"
"Furthermore, what about cloudy days? Or rainstorms? Or a solar eclipse? The entirety of Pride Lands would be in shadow. That practically means they own it all. Because of this volatile rule, they can just infiltrate the Pride Rock during those times since it's legitimately theirs until the sun is out again."
"You're being too literal, Simba… that's not what it means."
"Well, enlighten me, then? What do you mean by everything the light touches is ours?"
"… Let's talk about it another time, okay?"
"Fine." Simba sighed and was frustrated his dad couldn't just answer his questions right now. They had all thought about it carefully during their council meetings, right?
"Now, where were we? Ah, yes!" Mufasa cleared his throat. "You see, everything exists in a delicate balance. As a king you need to understand its balance and respect all living things, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope."
"Don't we eat the antelope?" Simba asked, and it was such a reasonable question Mufasa would be surprised if Simba hadn't asked about it. He'd a well prepared answer.
"Yes, Simba, but let me explain; when we die, our bodies become grass and antelopes eat the grass. So we are all connected in the circle of life."
"Alright, but… We actively kill the antelope. If our bodies become grass, that means antelopes are just eating our remains. How is that a fair trade? Why do we kill the antelopes when we could just wait until they die to eat them, like vultures do? Or heck, even hyenas?"
Mufasa swore to the Circle of Life he was about to have a brain aneurysm.
"We aren't vultures, Simba! Or hyenas! We are lions, and we hunt animals!"
"So you're saying we shouldn't adopt their way of humanely eating animals because we're lions? Does that not make us the bad guys? Are you saying we shouldn't partake in their culture because you consider them to be beneath our way of thinking? I swear this makes just as much sense as the kingdom being ours because the light touches it."
"NONE OF THAT MATTERS, YOU LITTLE BRAT! I'M THE KING AND WHAT I'M SAYING GOES! MY SYSTEM IS FLAWLESS. YOU'RE JUST SOME DUMB KID WITH A SUPERIORITY COMPLEX! Y'know what? Have fun philosophizing with your hyena friends in your irregular shadows as you eat rotting antelopes together. I'm outta here." Mufasa completely lost it on his cub who was just innocently asking questions. The king now angrily stormed off in anything but the pride of a king.
Simba lowered his ears.
"… How did he know about my daily schedule?"
In the distance Scar was twirling his whiskers menacingly as he watched on.
"I've taught you well, my dear disciple. I may not be king, but I can make you rule the Pride Lands the way I want with just a little smidgeon of my favorite ingredient: revolution."
Scars began mocking Mufasa's deep bellowed voice.
"'Let them eat antelope.'"