Taka sniffed carefully of the opening. He'd never smelled a honey badger before, but he knew it was not a rabbit. It was strange and pungent, and full of possibilities. "I've come this far, " Taka said. "If I'm going to get my wish, I guess I have to go in there."

"You'll never do it, " Mufasa said, looking at the dark hole with a barely repressed shudder. "He sounds really angry. Besides, it's dark in there, and you're afraid of the dark."

"Says who?"

"Says me, that's who! You always think the hyenas are going to get you. Sometimes you won't go to sleep till high moon, then you have bad dreams."

Taka was deeply stung. Often he would wake with the same nightmare of being ripped apart by hyenas. Akase, always listening with a mother's ear, would be there quickly to comfort him with warm kisses that smelled like lioness love and let him rest his head on her soft belly until he fell asleep to the music of her breath. He never knew if he also woke Mufasa. Now, there was no doubt. Taka's stomach knotted. He looked at the hole and knew what he must do.

Sarabi could see the fear and cuddled up next to Taka. "Don't do it if you don't want to. I sure wouldn't."

"That's cause you're a girl, " Taka said, but he looked at her kindly. Then he faced the dark hole. "I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of the badger. I'm a lion, and lions aren't afraid...” He looked over at Muffy. “...no matter WHAT their brothers think."

With stooped shoulders and head held low, Taka angled down the steep passageway. As he reluctantly headed down the dark shaft, inch by inch, he kept talking. "We're not going to hurt you. We just want you to give us a wish, see? There are three of us, so that’s three wishes." The sound of breathing from the depths grew faster, as did Taka's. “Three wishes ought to be real easy for someone like you. I mean, what’s three wishes for a real Nisei?” Silence. “Please say something. Anything.”

"Hey Taka, " Mufasa said, "You don't have to do it.” He stuck his head in the hole and said, “I'm sorry I called you a dim wit."

"It was lame brain, " Sarabi said.

"Whatever." Mufasa snapped. "Hey Taka, come back. I was only funning about you being afraid of the dark." He grew impatient. "Taka, I SAID I WAS SORRY, all right?? Now come out of there or I'll tell mother! "

“Don’t block up the hole, ” Sarabi said. She listened carefully at the entrance. “What’s he doing down there?”

“How should I know? Hush.”

They heard Taka's voice from the depths of the tunnel. It was distant, thin and stammering. "We don't want to hurt you. You see, my brother Mufasa is going to be King when he grows up, but I’m just his brother. He had this idea that if I could sit with....”

There was a low rumbling from the depths. It sounded like a growl.

“Please help me. I’m scared. It's so dark in here." It was Taka. Mufasa and Sarabi did not know if he was talking to the badger or to them. Mufasa tried to push his way down the hole.

It was a tight fit, and he realized he wouldn’t be much help. He started digging.

“Don’t! ” Sarabi pulled him back. “It will cave in! ”

“But he’s in trouble.”

“If he gets buried, he’ll really be in trouble.” She looked in the opening. “Taka, are you OK?”

“Is that you, Sassie?”

“Please come out. If you love me, come out.”

“In a minute.”

“Not in a minute! Right now! ”

The sounds of breathing quickened again. There were some sounds of movement. Then silence. After a moment, Mufasa looked at Sarabi. "I didn't think he'd do it. Either he's very brave or very stupid."

"He's not stupid, " Sarabi said firmly. "If you hadn't called him stupid, he wouldn't be down there! Just because he's smaller than you are doesn't mean he's stupid." She called out more loudly. “Please come out! You’re scaring me! ”

Just then there was a loud, menacing growl and a cub's shriek of agony. "I'm going! Oh Gods! Let me go! Let me go, you’re hurting me! " They could hear Taka trying to back out.

Muffy started digging furiously. “Taka!! ” Dust flew from his paws, and he managed to work his head in. “Hold on: I can see your tail! Come back a little more. Give me a few more inches! ”

Mufasa grabbed at the tail and pulled with all his might. Sarabi grabbed Muffy’s tail, and trying not to hurt him too much gave a yank. Taka came stumbling out of the hole backward, his face covered in blood, and one of his eyes protruding from its socket. The white badger came out after him, but saw the other two cubs raise the fur on their backs and snarl. Thinking twice about its options, it reluctantly went back in its hole. Taka laid on the ground shivering. "Oh gods! It hurts! Somebody help me! I want my momma! "

Mufasa stared at the unseeing eye in a pool of blood. It took a moment for him to tear himself away from the horror and move. "I'll get Mom--no, I'd better get Makedde." He started off, then stopped. "No, he'd have to come back here. Can you walk, Taka?"

Taka struggled off the ground and began to limp. Blood dripped down his face and onto the grass. "I'll try. Is it very far?"

"No. Just follow me."

SCENE: THE PROPHESY

It was a long trek to Makedde’s home in the baobab tree. In the hot sun, the blood began to cake in Taka’s fur, and flies mercilessly swarmed around him. His gait was unsteady, and try though he did, his bravery could only stretch so far.

“How much further is it?”

“Just a little more, ” Mufasa said.

“That’s what you said the last time.” Taka began panting uncontrollably. “It hurts. Do you think he’ll have something for the pain?”

“He has stuff for everything, ” Sarabi said. “Don’t worry, Taka. Everything will be all right.”

“How much further is it?”

Sarabi got ahead of him and looked into his face. His good eye did not seem to focus. She realized he was following the sound of Muffy’s feet. “You must keep going, ” Sarabi said. “Do it for me.”

Loss of blood and the pain was sending Taka into shock, and he was getting weak in the limbs. “Sassie, I don’t think I can make it.”

“You can make it, ” she said, leaning into him. “Taka, did you hear the one about the two wildebeests and the zebra?”

“No.”

“Well there was these two wildebeests, and one said to the other, ‘I bet I can get that zebra to laugh before you can. So he went to the zebra and said, ‘Watch this! ’ He stood on his head and stuck out his tongue. But the zebra didn’t laugh. So you know what the other wildebeest did?”

“What wildebeest? I don’t see any.” He stumbled and lay still in the grass.

“Get up, Taka! Come on, you got to keep going! ”

She nudged his flank with her nose, prodded him with her paws, and even tugged on his ear. “Get up! ”

“I can’t.”

“You have to! ” She nipped his leg.

“Ow! ” He looked directly at her.

“Get up or I’ll nip you again.”

Muffy put his snout under Taka and pushed. With a little help from his brother, Taka stood again and began to stumble along. “I can see it from here. Oh thank God.”

Makedde, the sage Mandrill Baboon, was teaching his younger brother Rafiki how to divine the future with a bowl of water. This technique, called scrying, is the best way to tell the future. For water, they say, has risen higher than birds fly and it returns to Earth charged with the energy of the gods. This is so, for any lion sees the new green in the grass after a rain.

Makedde dropped his work at once when he saw the blood spattered cub and his two friends. "Rafiki, mix a poultice quick! " He looked at Taka's eye closely. "Oh Master Taka, what have you done now! "