With a smile of embarrassment, she said to herself, “Well, I guess it COULD happen....”
THE FALL OF THE MAKEI:
Crickets celebrated the night constant chirruping which carried clear across the savanna. Avina shifted slightly on her perch amid the rocks of Pride Rock, twitching out of the way of a protruding stone which was irritating her back. Flicking her tail in satisfaction, she closed her eyes.
Warm breath puffed in her face and a wet tongue caressed her cheek. “Hi, Mama.”
Avina blinked and turned her head. “Hello, Sassie.” Her jaws opened in a wide yawn. “You girls were out late You know I worry about you when you do that.”
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Elanna said, rubbing against her mother and clambered atop her and settling next to her sister Sarabi.
Avina purred in her chest as she pulled her daughters close. “Mama? What happened to ‘Mom?’ You two haven’t called me Mama for a long time.” The lioness wrapped her paws about her children, sharing her warmth with them as they lay together. Suddenly an arc of light sparked across the heavens, a claw mark of light against the velvet sky.
“What was that?” the girls asked.
Avina tracked the light intently. “Bow your heads, quick! Give thanks to Aiheu for his love.”
Obediently, they touched muzzle to paw in prayer until Avina raised her own head. “What was it, Mama? Why were we praying?”
Avina nuzzled Elanna softly. “That light was one of the lost souls, the Makei, still searching for his home.”
“Why are they lost?”
“They are polluted, and it makes it difficult for them to find guidance from Aiheu. Still he holds out a paw to them. He told them, ‘Cleansing comes from within, in a clean heart and truthful witness. You will be sorely tempted by the mud, but you are also full of my milk, and it will overcome all else if you let it. Remember in your darkness that my light is with you, shining on the true path.’”
Sarabi shivered. “That’s so sad. I feel sorry for them.”
“That’s good, Honey Tree. They don’t mean to be bad.”
“But how come that Makei fell out of the sky? Wasn’t he with the old kings?”
Avina sighed. “The Makei may call upon Aiheu to judge them. If he deems their heart is good, Aiheu cleanses their Ka of the mud and gives them life, true life on Ma’at.
“However, if they are decieving him, he sees this too. They are cast back to earth without their form to continue their search.” Avina scratched idly and groomed her paw. “Legend has it that a Makei fell to earth right here and created Pride Rock.”
“Really??”
“Yes. You see, long ago a lion pride lived here when there was nothing but grassy plain. It was a strong pride with a fine king. One season the drought struck them particularly hard, however, and they began to starve. The king decreed that large portions of kills would go to the lionesses who participated in the hunt, with the largest going to the one who made the kill itself.
“Now the king’s son, Mashlaika, was still an adolescent. He couldn’t hunt very well, and since he contributed the least amount to the pride itself, he got the smallest portion of food...which, all too often, was nothing. In desperation, he pleaded with his father for something more. ‘Even you take more from the kill than I, and you hunt not at all!’
“The king looked at his son sadly. ‘I must take more to keep my strength, for it is I who guards your family from the jealous eyes of night, and gives you safe haven.’ Yet tears came to the old king’s eyes at the sight of his son, whose ribs stood out clearly. ‘Still, I cannot bear the pain of your suffering; you may have a portion of my meal, when the others have slept and do not see.’
“Mashlaika could not stand to take his father’s food, though, and continued to suffer. Finally, he was alone one day with one of the lionesses of the pride, who was babysitting the cubs while the others wwent on the hunt. His eyes burned as he watched the cubs draw sustenance from the lioness. ‘Even THEY eat better than I, and yet give us nothing.’ he thought. A fierce anger swept him, and in a rage he approached the cubs. The lioness rose to stop him, but he struck her and knocked her senseless. Mashlaika settled among the cubs and began an unholy feast, gorging himself on their flesh until he was sated.”
Sarabi and Elanna gasped and shuddered, staring at their mother in shock. “He ATE them? The little cubs??”
“Yes.” Avina nodded sadly.
“What happened??”
“Aiheu seized him, and he felt the terrible wrath of God. ‘What is this that you have done??’
“Mashlaika cowered before him. ‘My Lord, I was starving! And they gave nothing to our family, only stealing life from their own mothers!’
“‘One cannot ‘steal’ what is freely given, Mashlaika, and one’s value is not measured by contribution or ability. If it was, I would have killed you the day you were born, for you are greedy and heartless.’ Aiheu seized Mashlaika by the scruff of his neck, lifted him high and tore the Ka from his body. Then he tossed the soul of Mashlaika to the earth. And he placed this large rock over him to prevent him from harming anyone else.
“Here?!” Elanna looked startled. “You mean Mashlaika landed here?”
Avina nodded. “It is said that his Ka still sleeps deep within the earth in the caves behind Pride Rock, where he still waits for little cubs to come wandering in...and sometimes, those cubs are never seen again.” Avina’s voice dropped to an awed whisper.
Sarabi clutched her mother fearfully. “Wh-what happens to them?”
“Why, if they disturb his rest, Mashlaika awakes, and he goes YUMMY IN THE TUMMY!” Avina lunged and nuzzled Sarabi’s belly, eliciting a shriek of terrified delight from the cub.
Elanna laughed and pounced on her mother. “You teaser!”
Sarabi pawed Avina’s face, still giggling slightly. “Oh Mom! Do you really believe that story about the caves?”
“Well, my mother told it to me.” Avina shrugged with a shake of her tail. “Who knows? One thing IS for certain; I don’t want you going in there, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You too, Lannie.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Now you two come here and lie down; you’ve been up far too long as it is.”
The cubs complied agreeably enough, and soon were drifting off to sleep. As she dozed herself, Avina idly wondered at the odd note in Lannie’s voice as she had finished the tale.
Shrugging again, she closed her eyes and rode the chirping of the crickets into the peace of sleep.
EPILOGUE:
Makaka sat huddled next to Anasa, quiet and depressed. The plague had taken his mother Uzuri first because she was old and weak, but there were many others near death. All around him were sick lions. Unable to catch much food, there loomed a very real threat that hunger might destroy them if the plague did not.
“I feel sick inside,” Makaka said.
Anasa touched his forehead. “Honey Tree, surely not!” It was dry and cool, and she sighed with relief. “It must be fatigue, dear. You shouldn’t scare me like that.”
“I never meant I had the plague.” He sighed. “Once everything was going my way. I thought I knew where I would be a year from now, five years from now, even where I would die. I planned to lie on the promontory and look into the east and slip away quietly.”
“And what about me?”
Tears came to his eyes. “You’re all I have left, you and my pride family. The only mother I’ve ever known is dead, and the only father that cared for me.”