Children's Story - 3

 Striped Back

 When the zebra was created, it was not a beautiful animal.  It had no stripes, and it was uglier than an ass. It was black.  Do you know how it got its stripes?

Long long ago, the animals were living in the forest.  The tiger, the bear, the jackal, the wolf, the monkey, the ass, the horse and the leopard were all living together, and the lion was the king.

During the rule of Lion XV the Great, many rules were passed to limit the freedom of other animals.  One such rule said, “No animal shall disturb the lion prince when he sleeps.”

All the animals were terribly frightened.  When the little lion slept, the fox would not howl; the horse would not neigh; and, the footsteps of the animals would not be heard.  All animals walked as in a silent movie.

The donkey thought it was misuse of power.  So, it wanted to revolt.  It had no courage to question the lion.  So, one day when it was totally dark in the forest, the donkey planned to disturb the sleeping prince.  Quietly it walked towards the cave-palace.  Gathering its strength, it brayed at the top of its voice.

Lion King XV the Great woke up.  His anger knew no limits.  He walked out of the cave and started chasing the donkey.  It was dark, and the lion could not spot it.  Still it followed the donkey.  The donkey ran fast and got missed with other donkeys, mules and zebras.

“Who disturbed my little son?” roared the lion.

The donkey promptly replied, “Your majesty, it is the zebra who did the mischief,” and pointed at the gentle zebra.  The lion dragged the zebra to his cave-palace.

In the morning, the animal parliament was convened.

“What punishment do you suggest to this rogue?” thundered the Lion King.  Banishment, beheading, imprisonment and many other forms of punishment were suggested.  But the jackal wanted to see the real fun.

“Your majesty may please pardon the zebra this time, but none of us will have any objection to your majesty giving the zebra a punishment of 101 lashes.

“That is a great idea,” said the wild boar.  The donkey was feeling guilty, but it is said that the 101 lashes should be a lesson to other animals.  The punishment was agreeable to the Lion who said, “The zebra shall be given 101 lashes and the monkey shall execute the punishment.”

Time and venue were fixed, and all the animals gathered at the appointed time.  The monkey came there with a big, strong whip.  The zebra was also brought there.  “God, I did not do anything.  I am innocent.  Please save me from this punishment,” prayed the zebra. The order of punishment was read by the bear, and the monkey raised the whip and cracked it.

The zebra did not move a bit at the first lash. The lash had given a golden yellow stripe on the flanks of the zebra.  The donkey which was to count the lashes said, “TWO”, and there came a stronger lash.  “THREE”, said the donkey, and the monkey’s whip cracked again.

The zebra did not move, but it repeated its prayer.  Every lash became a golden yellow stripe.  When the donkey finished counting “101”, the zebra looked a different animal with many beautiful stripes on its body.  The zebra was not hurt.  It ran back to the other zebras to show the stripes on its body.  To its surprise, it found all the other zebras too having the same stripes.

All animals knew it was the donkey who brayed. The donkey tried to gallop from the place.  But lo! It was punished.  It started limping.  Its legs went slanting.  It started braying in a hoarser voice.  All that it could do was kicking with its hind legs.