Kako’s eyes bulged until the whites showed, and sweat popped out, matting her fur. “I’m trying, Isha! I’m trying! I shouldn’t have come out tonight!”
“I hate to say I told you so,” Isha said, trying to be calm. But the tip of her tail twitched nervously. “Push! Bear down, for God’s sake! Push!!”
Oh gods!” She gasped. “I think something’s happening!”
Blood stained the grass near her tail. “Look!” Uzuri said. “Here it comes!”
“Come on, Honey Tree!” Isha kissed her on the cheek. “You can do it, Sis!”
A half smile broke through the tense face on Kako. “Yes, I can! I can! It’s happening!”
With a half-choked-back shriek, Kako expelled a small body still wrapped in its maternal cloak. Excitedly, Isha pulled the sac from the infant and began to clean it off.
Uzuri came over excitedly. “Oh, look at him! He’s beautiful!” The other pride sisters gathered around in respectful silence before the start of a new life.
Isha said, “Mother, behold your son.”
Panting with the effort of bringing life into the world, Kako looked at the small, wet treasure that God had given her. “Come, my son.” She gently nudged the small child against her abdomen and lay exhausted as he took his first meal under the starry sky. With a tired smile, Kako said, “He was born at night. He’ll be a mighty hunter someday.”
Isha touched the small infant with her tongue. “Isn’t he beautiful! What are you going to call him?”
“He will be Mabatu, like his father.”
CHAPTER: MORE THAN AN UNCLE
Kako was worried about presenting Mabatu to the King. She had seen only compassion and kindness in Taka’s eyes, but she had also heard--and overheard--a lot of things about him that distressed her.
There were always the hyenas. It struck Kako as unnatural that they would be sharing the rock with lions. Certainly Mufasa would never have permitted such a thing. Everyone spoke of Mufasa like some sort of Mano with golden fur. Everyone, that was, except Taka. Once when coaxed to speak of his brother, Taka told Kako that Mufasa was dull witted and more obsessed with popularity than with handing down the hard decisions that a King should make. “He sat watching the wildebeests while I paid attention to my lessons. Alas, cruel irony of fate, he was trampled by them. The one good thing I can say about him was that he loved his son.”
Kako had noticed that Taka was a little odd. He had a certain intensity when he stared at her right in the eyes, and he possessed a lot of strange mannerisms. But she tried to convince herself that the other lionesses were unfairly prejudiced against him. And of course, she did not dream that Taka had driven out his nephew and murdered his own brother!
Kako finished Mabatu’s first meal, then she took him gently by the scruff of the neck and carried him gingerly back to Pride Rock to her favorite haunt.
The king came running down the trail. When Taka first caught sight of young Mabatu, he was elated. “Look at him! Isn’t he a looker!”
Kako looked up and smiled pleasantly. “They say love makes the child beautiful,” she replied. “I gave up everything for him, and it shows.”
Indeed, after the hunt was divided, all the lionesses filed by to pay their respects and many of them mentioned his good looks. It was a saying among the lionesses that handsome cubs often grew up to be plain, and sometimes the homeliest cubs grew up to be stunningly beautiful. But it didn’t keep them from hoping he would one day live up to his promise.
Taka’s sense of duty compelled him at the sight of the proud stranger caring for her child in a strange land. As ruler of the pride, he felt responsible for them and went beyond what was necessary to insure their comfort. During the days of Mabatu’s milk, Taka would save choice portions of the kills for Kako so that her milk would be wholesome and plentiful. And when Mabatu began to try solid food, Taka would bring him tempting tidbits to eat. Baba, as he was often called, found Taka more of a father than an Uncle.
Despite all the lavish attention paid her by the king, Kako was somehow immune from the prejudice that had tarnished Elanna. It was all right that Taka loved her like a sister and loved Mabatu like a son. All who knew them felt the same way. If anything, it helped Taka’s perception among the Pride Sisters, and while he was never liked as a King, he was tolerated because of his care for little Baba. Even Isha paid him grudging respect when she saw him give up part of his share of the kill for the cub.
Once briefly Elanna expressed a little jealousy of Kako and the attention she was getting. But Taka kissed her and nuzzled her and said, “In her I see my deepest pains. In you I see my deepest joys.”
CHAPTER: LEAN RATIONS
When Mabatu was three moons old, he went to his Auntie Isha for his nightly lesson in star lore. She had to cancel class because the sky was overcast. A bolt of lightning flashed and within moments it was raining heavily. That rain would be remembered for a long time because it was the last one before the drought.
Hunting had already begun to suffer in the Pride Lands because of the hyenas. Besides taking many of the best resting places, shedding hair and raising a smell that many lions called ‘oppressive’ or ‘downright disgusting,’ the hyenas ate a lot for animals their size. There were signs they hid away some of the prey as well. And while the lionesses never killed rabbits, their small carcasses were found more and more often. The hyenas were eating much better than the lions, and the issue began to raise some angry words among the Pride Sisters who had to hunt for their own cubs.
Then came the terrible draught that would be known for many years after as ‘Taka’s scourge.’ It seemed like an unfair name, but Rafiki assured them later that One-who-makes-rain was holding back the water because of Taka himself.
For the first week without rain, no one was alarmed. Two dry weeks seemed odd. Three weeks, and lionesses began to make remarks. But after four weeks without rain, hunting began to become an exercise in frustration.
Among the first to leave the Pride Lands were the hunters. Timid at first, but progressively more bold, the cheetahs would stand the humiliation of a shamefully long wait to see the king. Then Taka would listen politely to their complaints, say something patronizing, and dismiss them.
Eventually the cheetahs left, followed shortly by the leopards that haunted the edges of the Pride Lands. Before the drought was over, the foxes, wild dogs, and eagles would desert the land. Only the vultures never left, but they had their eyes on Pride Rock and bigger game.
Little Baba’s appetite was growing along with his body. His “Uncle Taka” had to work harder to find enough for him to eat. As the river receded, several shallow pools formed along the edges where fish were trapped. The hyenas tended to raid theose as soon as they formed, though the lionesses eventually caught on and would keep a watchful eye along the bank. Those fish were all that stood between them and starvation, and they dared the hyenas to touch them under pain of death. Taka used his royal privilege, however, and brought Baba a couple of large fish. When Baba turned from them, Taka sighed and said morosely, “But I caught them myself just for you.”
Baba sniffed of them again and tried one. It was not bad, and he quickly downed it with a look of pleasure. Then he started to eat the other, but stopped. “What are you going to eat?”
“I’ll find something.”
“Here.” He shoved the fish over to Taka. “You eat this one.”
Taka looked into Mabatu’s face, stunned. “What a kind thing to do,” he said, giving him a warm nuzzle. “I love you, Baba.”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER: THE SUITOR
Kako was dubious about Taka’s care of her son, but she adored Isha and looked forward to her visits. Isha had endless patience with the boisterous love Mabatu gave her, stoically enduring his pounces at her tail, his tugging at her ears and his snapping at her heels. She knew when the rough play was over he would look to her with unadulterated love. Then she would hold him close with joy, kissing his small face and fondling him with her paw.