The King Cobra and The Kindom of Zambezi (By Hope Nyambe and abel tonga ) With his Birthday cake before him, his tail firmly stuck in the grave, almost clueless to the happenings around him. This was not always the case, and I must admit, it was so painful to see the once mighty serpent now so repugnant and utterly useless to the needs of the animals of the Kingdom of Zambezi….. Wait a minute, that’s no way to start a story, let me start from the beginning. Unlike most of the animals now in the ruling elite of the kingdom, the king cobra had a very humble upbringing. As a little tiny wiggly snakelet, he travelled miles across the oceans to work for the largely albino animals. He used to carry their luggage and sweep their cart stations. But this was a snake destined for greater achievements in life than just sweeping cart stations. He returned to the Zambezi kindom and joined the ruling elite led by the dictator, Kantankerous Ken. He slowly worked his way through the ranks until he was a governor in the Kingdom of Zambezi. As Governor, the King Cobra made his mark as a snake of action with a tail, fang and venom - on approach to work. Nobody was really sure about his degree of intelligence, what was definite was that he had a very powerful political neurotoxin in his bite, certain political death for any opponent that dire stand in his way. And that is how the king Cobra continued climbing the ladder. He carried on biting his opponents; at times even the ones that had helped him climb the ladder. As many of you might know, a snake climbing a ladder, even a snake ladder is a tricky business. Just when he thought he had reached the summit of the ladder, he would slide down again right to the bottom. On three occasions, he reached the summit just to slide down again. But he never gave up. By this time, he was a fully matured cobra with very potent venom which he used indiscriminately against anybody he deemed a threat to his ambition of been the supreme leader of the Kingdom of Zambezi. Luck was on the King Cobra side. The tide in the fortunes of the Zambezi kingdom where turning to the worst and the animals where becoming increasingly disillusioned at the rule of ‘Rapid Bandit’ the neck less bull frog. Rapid Bandit or just ’RB’ in short, was what you can call a master looter. He made animals caught in a maize field with their mouths full look like kids play. In the short period he had been the supreme leader of the animals, he had looted the kingdoms natural resources at the fastest rate since records began. When the other animals where dying from hunger and the associated disease that comes with it, RB was increasingly putting on weight to the point of obesity. That’s how he lost his neck completely. From a distance, you would mistake him for a baby hippo. With the animals of the Kingdom of Zambezi perpetually hungry, they couldn’t stomach RB anymore. Even a serpent like the King Cobra looked like an angel compared to RB. That is how the animals overwhelmingly chose the king Cobra to be their supreme ruler. He was quick to mark his stamp. He doubled the size of the ruling elite to include mainly his relatives and any other animal the king cobra thought had helped him get the reins of power. Even animals that where way in their retirement where brought back to be part of the ruling elite. Animals like the old bull, Dander head Kombwe. Kombwe openly proclaimed that he had joined the King Cobra’s ruling elite just to eat from the high table, and not serves the ordinary animals as would be the norm. The animals were beginning to see that the King Cobra was actually a very incongruous and divisive element. Before the king cobra’s rule, the animals had been so united that they actually forgot their diversity. They simply looked at each other as animals of the great kingdom of Zambezi. On any given occasion, the animals would recite the slogan “one Zambezi, One Nation” as a mark of their unity. But now, the animals were beginning to isolate themselves according to their identities. The animals from the North realised that they were actually monkeys. Animals from the south realised that they were cows, the animals from the west – Hopanis (water monitor) and the animals from the east, rats. The animals still lived together but under an increasingly uneasy truce. The monkeys and the cows were constantly bickering, calling each other all sorts of names. As many of you might already know, animal’s age and became brainless, they are not like vintage wine that gets better with age. It appeared that the king cobra’s age and the many battles he had fought over the years, and in most cases won, had finally taken their toll. He had lost his fangs, and with them the Vernon they carried. He had shed his skin so many times that there wasn’t any more skin left to shed. All the animals could now clearly see through him. All that was left was a split tongue that you couldn’t really tell whether it was cursing or blessing. His speech was incoherent, mainly because whenever he was speaking, he would forget what his last sentence was, literally. It was rumoured that his continued functioning was down to the medicines and mechanical aids from the veterinary services. It was becoming apparent to all the animals that the king cobras days as the supreme leader of the Kingdom of Zambezi were numbered. Within the ruling animal elite, there was growing interest on who was going to succeed the King Cobra. There seemed to be two animals at the fore front of the race to succeed him. The first was a baboon called Vinter, and as the name would suggest, he was a very cold and brazen animal. He was an expert on the laws of the Zambezi kingdom, and way too happy to apply the same laws to any animal he deemed was a threat to his chances of succeeding the king cobra. There was also a much darker side to Vinter, the animals of Zambezi kingdom had long suspected him of secretly helping himself to the natural resources of the kingdom. He was called before the Antelope, Camel and Cheetah, collectively known as The ACC. The ACC were in charge of investigating animals that were suspected of plundering the kingdoms natural resources. Not to be out down by the ACC, Vinter appeared before them in the company of a park of snarling, hungry looking Hyena’s. Even the ACC as law enforcement animals were disconcerted by the presence of the hyenas. Who wouldn’t be? Hyenas are animals that are known to eat their own young and despite their cowardice, in numbers they are a formidable force. With tails between their legs, the ACC made a hasty retreat. That is how Vinter walked out scot free. The second animal was the light skinned lion popularly known as ZaYellow. Lions are known to be brutal animals with not much of a brain. Lions seem to resolve all issues with brutal force. But this was not the case with ZaYellow. He was a humble and mellowed down Lion with more brains than the baboon Vinter, who was regarded as one of the cleverest animals in the kingdom. Vinter knew this as well and had previously accused ZaYellow of betraying the King Cobra and conspiring with the enemy. Many people in the kingdom of Zambezi saw ZaYellow as the next potential successor to King Cobra, but they were scared to say this in public. The king Cobra and his minions had let the population of Hyena’s increase without any checks. Hyenas, animals that eat their own young, where everywhere and effectively dealt with anybody that said anything against the King Cobra. It was the younger hugely brain washed Hyena’s that the animals had to look out for; they were everywhere… at the drinking hole, the social forums, drowning out any animal that said anything against the king Cobra with very loud dull and giggly laughs. So despite his age and the inhibitions that old age comes with, the King Cobra remained at the helm of power.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 16:19:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015