It was not until the next evening that Kijani was able to tell the cubs the first story. After a quick hunt and a nice meal, Kijani was exhausted, he still wanted to tell a story but the cubs ended up falling asleep before Kijani even finished his meal. Kijani hoped that tomorrow would be a good day.
Of course the cubs were early risers and Kali was the first to awaken him by pouncing on his back. Kijani woke with a start, for a moment he had forgotten where he was until he saw three cubs staring at him and smiling while Kali began to chase his tail.
"You promised us a story last night," said Jelani looking like any cub who wanted there way.
"Well you all fell asleep before I could tell you one, and it wouldn't work very well if I told it while you four were asleep," said Kijani.
"You could have woken us up" said Uzuri with a wave of her tail.
Kijani only smiled knowing full well how cubs would often whine when someone in the family tried to wake them too early.
"Besides, I still need to know you kids names before I can even tell a story," said Kijani. Haidar had not even told him and neither did the rest of the pride.
"Oh well I'm Jelani your nephew, Dad's told me all about you," said Jelani.
"And as well he should have, family is very important you know," said Kijani.
"I'm Uzuri, but everyone calls me Zuri because the U just takes too much time saying," said Uzuri in a matter of fact voice.
"I'm Asha," said Asha unsure how to introduce herself further.
"And I'm Kali, sometimes I'm the leader of the group and sometimes Asha is, Zuri and Jelani just like following us," said Kali.
Zuri and Jelani just grinned; both knew it was true so there was no need to argue about that. Kijani decided to study the triplets for a moment, hoping to get a good idea of how each one might be different and it didn't take him long to figure out. All three had a light yellowish brown to them, like the sands of the Namib Desert by the sea, where he had traveled before. And each one had a white colored belly and paws but each one still showed different markings.
Zuri's white colored stomach stopped between her front legs and just above that on her chest was a cream colored diamond shaped spot that was quite clear and easy to distinguish. Asha's white colored stomach was the same as Zuri's only the spot on her chest looked like the letter V pointing downward. It was smaller than Zuri's spot so Kijani knew he would not get too confused. Now Kali was very different from the two. Her white colored belly actually went all the way up to her chin and the white color on her paws actually went farther up on her legs, making it look like she was wearing socks. So she was definitely recognizable.
"Well that's good to know then, and then when one of you gets into trouble we won't have a hard time figuring out who the ring leader was," said Kijani with a grin.
Kali and Asha both grinned sheepishly, Kijani sure was sneaky, but they trusted him. He would probably tell their parents that they were only playing and being the cubs they were, just like Kijani was when he was a cub, something they knew very well about from Safiya and Conga.
"But what about the story you promised us?" asked Jelani as he pounced upon Kijani hoping to change the subject, he obviously had been waiting to hear a story for a very long time.
"Oh deary me is that why I was woken up so early today, I thought I was just passing through," said Kijani with a smirk.
"You better not be leaving us, you said you had many stories to tell us and we are not letting you leave until you tell us as many as you can," said Kali in a matter of fact voice.
Kijani gave a big laugh. "Oh my you must be terrifying if someone runs away from you but yes I will tell you my first story, if I remember correctly it was Jelani who asked for the first one, what was it again?"
"How did stories come to be," said Jelani excitedly.
"Oh yes, there are actually five of those, only one of those is actually interesting to tell though," said Kijani.
The cubs stared at the storyteller with wide eyes waiting for the first word to come out of his mouth. Kijani took his time though; he liked creating suspense for the ones who were listening until at least one of them finally broke down and yelled and it was Zuri who did that.
"So what happened?" she asked in a frustrated tone.
"Okay, now that you are ready, here is the tale," began Kijani while at the same time trying his hardest not to laugh.
Now many of you I know believe that the first tale probably began with the first creature to walk the earth those millions of years ago. But of course, you don't know the truth behind that, for you see, the first creature did walk the earth millions of years ago but he didn't come up with a story until one thousand years after they arrived.
For you see the first thousand years were very boring. Everyone did the same old thing every day. They would wake up, hunt, wander around for a few hours running into the same creatures they would see every day, and then go home and go to bed. They would talk of course but it was the same thing of "hi how are you doing" and "oh same old same old" and "What about you" and of course "ditto."
Even giving life was boring. The males would ask the females if they were ready for a child and if they said no then they would wait another day, if they said yes well lets just say the whole process lasted less than ten minutes and the two lovers were asleep in twenty. The lion would tell the others that his mate was pregnant and everyone would congratulate her for a few minutes before getting bored and going about their usual business.
Child bearing was the same too, the child would easily enter the world and no problems would come of the child. It would suckle for a few weeks, play for a few months and then become the adult he was supposed to be and follow in his parent's extremely boring pawprints.
Death was predictable, the creature would become ill or slow down with age and as they walked around and did there thing, they would just drop and they would be left there to become the grass which is also where that saying came from.
But as a thousand years went by, some became quite bored by their daily routine, they would complain a little but they wouldn't stop, not until Asad came on the scene.
Now Asad was a young lion when the first story came about and he was the one who first made up a story. He was doing the same playful routine that he always did and then realized that it was just way too boring and without another word, decided to go explore the jungle that was a few miles away and that no one dared to go into because they liked their very boring life.
At first Asad was very nervous about entering this strange place because of what might happen but knew that now he had at least done something in his life that was fascinating. He made his way through the jungle; there were fascinating plant life, really colorful bugs, and strange noises he had never heard before all because his pride and every other creature in existence was very boring.
He finally came to a very large temple, something he had never imagined seeing in his very slow and boring days. He stared at it in awe for a very long time, unsure of what the strange temple might do to him, but it stayed put and finally he decided that it was just as boring as he was. So he entered.
But before Asad could even go through the door, a strange creature on two legs appeared. Well he stood on two legs but when he walked he walked on all fours and his face was very colorful, and he had a very small tail.
"What are you?" Asad asked.
"What am I, why I'm a monkey of course, what about you?" asked the creature.
"I am Asad, from the plains, I got bored and decided to explore, said Asad.
As if the word explore was the cue, the monkey jumped up and whooped and hollered for a good five minutes causing Asad to step back nervously and wonder what this strange monkey was doing. Finally the monkey was quiet and looked at Asad with a big grin.
"I have been waiting for one thousand years for someone to say that, and now the prophecy has finally come true," said the monkey.
"What's a prophecy?" asked Asad for this was also the first prophecy to ever be performed in one thousand years.
"A prophecy is a prediction that will come true, sometimes it will happen within the hour it is uttered, sometimes it doesn't happen for many years. It just depends on how big it is," said the monkey.
"So what is the prediction?" asked Asad.
"The prediction is, that the world will finally have something happening to it every day and not go about the same boring routine," said the monkey.
"Just because I decided to explore?" asked Asad.
The monkey nodded and with a wave with his magic cane which was almost like the one Jabir has now, he produced a small stone that he put on Asad's paw.
Asad looked down at the stone and saw the many colors that sparkled upon it. It was a perfectly rounded shape, not a scratch on it.
"Now when you go home, I want you to not say a word to your parents about where you have been, even if they demand to be answered, don't answer them. Take the stone and throw it off the highest point of your den, you will not see it land but you will a big change in the creatures around you immediately afterward," said the monkey.
Asad nodded and ran as fast as he could out of the jungle to try out his new prize and see if the first prophecy would actually come true.
Like the monkey had told him, his mother and father began asking questions of where he had been but Asad would not answer and went to the highest point of his den. When he arrived, he studied the spot for a moment before finally throwing the stone as hard as he could. He watched it fly for a moment before it disappeared from view, never to be seen again.
Asad walked down from the highest point of the den and saw both his parents waiting for him. They both looked angry yet very relived at the same time.
"I was just fixing a few things," said Asad.
"Well don't scare us like that again," said his father in a gruff voice.
"Yes sir, but if you want to know where I was, I went to the jungle," said Asad in a matter of fact tone.
His parents looked at him with wide eyes, no one they knew had ever gone to the jungle, but of course that was because everyone they knew was extremely boring.
"Was it scary in there?" asked his mother still looking quite nervous of almost loosing a son for the first time.
"At first it was but then I got used to it," said Asad.
"Did you meet any one?" asked his father.
"I met a monkey," said Asad.
"Was he scary looking?" asked his father.
And so Asad answered his parents questions long into the night, telling them of his little short adventure of seeing the monkey and the temple and how prophecy's can come true. And by the next day, life was no longer boring. Animals started doing other things, lion's started hunting new game, crocodiles now found something more delicious than fish as the wildebeests finally decided to cross the river after they realized that their herd was getting way too big for one small area. Meerkat's were setting up sentries because hawks found something more yummy than berries, and of course zebra's began to wonder if they were black with white stripes or if they were white with black stripes, a question that now haunts them to the end of time.
And it was all thanks to Asad, the young lion who wanted to do something different.
"And that's the first story," Kijani said as he finished the tale.
The cubs stared at the story teller with great awe, amazed that the first tale was how things were no longer boring all thanks to a lion a creature that they were.
"So a lion actually found a story," said Asha.
"Yup and that's why I thought it was better than the other four, one of them tells of how a crocodile just started telling everyone fibs, I just thought it wasn't as interesting, well to me any way," said Kijani.
"Can you tell us another story now?" asked Jelani.
"Hmmm how about later, right now I want to visit the water hole and talk to pride members for a bit, plus I would rather have you all think of a story you would like to hear rather than have me come up with one," said Kijani.
The cubs all nodded and ran outside to meet up with Naima who was now coming home to give the triplets some milk. And as they ate, they all thought up of stories that Kijani might tell them as time went on.
A/N: And there is the first story for you, short I know but some will be like that, some will be longer I hope, so I hope you all enjoyed that.
Asad simply means "Lion."
I hope to see you all later, I'll probably update in about two weeks or so, just depends on how busy I get. See you all around.