The Crane's Reward
Before the humans came and frightened away many of the animals, the lion was the king of Kisii. Sometimes the elephant thought that an elephant should be the king of Kisii, but then the lion would roar about what a tasty king the elephant would be. The elephant would agree quickly that lions were better at being king. A great and fearsome lion went out hunting. It was not long before he caught and killed a zebra that was big enough for his lionesses and cubs to eat their fill, with plenty left over for himself. When he and his family were eating, a small bone got caught in the great lion's throat. He could barely squeak to his lionesses that a bone was caught in his throat. One lioness tried to get the bone out with her paw, but she could not get her great paw far enough into the lion's mouth. The cubs could get to his throat with their little paws, but they were too clumsy to get the bone out. The lionesses tried to go get other animals to help, but they were all afraid of being eaten and ran away. Soon the lion say a crane sitting on a high branch watching him. "Crane," squeaked the lion. "Help your king. Your neck is long and thin and so is your beak. You can take this bone from my throat." The crane was in no hurry. "Why would I do that? One bite and the bone and I will both be in your stomach." "I shall reward you," said the lion. "I do not want you both stuck in my throat. Then who would help me?" The greedy crane could not resist the promise of a reward. He flew down to the lion and ordered, "Open your mouth as wide as you can." With the lionesses and cubs watching, the lion opened his mouth widely. The crane stuck its bill down the lion's throat until its whole head and part of its neck were in the lion's mouth. The bone was easily plucked out and dropped at the lion's feet. "I'll have that reward now," said the crane. "You already have it," said the lion. "Now you can tell the other animals that you gave an order to your king and he obeyed. You can boast that you put your head into a lion's mouth and lived to tell of it." The crane started to argue, but even the mighty elephant knew better than to argue with a group of lions. Amid the roars all around him, he stretched his wings and flew away to tell his story, as far from any lions as possible.
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