Outlaw of the Jungle

In a distant land, there were never any people, and so the animals developed differently. The country, called the Animal Kingdom, was divided into two nations: the Carnivore Dictatorship and the Herbivore Republic. Each side chose leaders once a year. The carnivores had a trial by combat while the herbivores took a vote. Both nations found their systems suitable and had adhered to them for a long time. 

The carnivores were fewer in both number and kind, and so they competed more fiercely. Their kingdom was divided into several houses: lion, tiger, bear, wolf, eagle, and crocodile. The House of Tiger included cheetahs and leopards, but they were rarely the head of their house much less the kingdom. In a similar way, alligators and pythons were part of House Crocodile. 

Meanwhile, in the Herbivore Republic, there were the houses of elephant, buffalo, deer, and ape. The House of Elephant counted the rhinos and the hippos in its ranks. Likewise with the other great houses, the largest of which was House Ape, which included the largest gorilla down to the smallest monkey. The rats felt equally at home in both groups, which made them the swing voters of the Animal Kingdom, though neither nation ever understood why the House of Rat would switch back and forth.    

The time came for the carnivores to choose a new leader, and the contest was decided through trial by combat. House Eagle, generally never having much of a chance, abstained as usual. House Python defeated House Crocodile to win the Reptile League while House Tiger beat House Lion. In an upset win, House Wolf prevailed over House Bear, who blamed their defeat on having just come out of hibernation. In the final rounds, House Python was victorious over House Wolf which then lost to House Tiger. 

As the tigers and their kin were celebrating, a messenger from House Rat came before them and announced they wished to challenge House Tiger. The tiger champion laughed and told the rat messenger that the rat challenger should come straight away. Just as soon as had the tiger champion said that, a horde of rats burst forth from every direction, covered the tiger and began biting him everywhere. The tiger begged for mercy and the rats relented. 

"Now that we have won the contest", said the rat messenger, "you must bow down before me, for I am the Emperor of Rats". 

"But that's not fair", the tiger champion protested. "You rats ganged up on me."

"Ah, but we were only following the law of the jungle, just as you. And that law is merely 'might makes right'."

There was a hue and cry from the other carnivores who had come to see what the commotion was a bout. Though the rats were great in number, their emperor knew they could not win against all of them by force.

"There's only one fair way to settle this", said the rat emperor, "we will take our dispute to the Herbivore Republic and let them decide who is right."

The tigers and other carnivores agree this was fair, so the tiger champion and his leopard bodyguard left with the rat emperor and his army for the Herbivore Republic.

"I don't trust these rats", whispered the tiger to the leopard. "At night, we'll take turns sleeping so that neither of us is caught off guard." 

Likewise, the rat cautioned his troops to be on guard, for the tiger and leopard could quickly kill many of them in a surprise attack. There were many tense nights during the journey to the territory of the Herbivore Republic, but the uneasy truce held. 

Near the border, they were questioned by one of the elephants guarding nearby. After explaining their dispute, the elephant guard told them to wait so that he could fetch the elders of the Herbivore Republic. After a few hours of waiting, the wisest herbivores appeared: the gorilla and the orangutan. 

"The elephant told us of your case, and we discussed it during our walk here", began the gorilla. 

"But we thought each of you should have one more chance to persuade us before we make our final decision", said the orangutan. "Tiger, you may go first."

"Thank you, your excellency", spoke the tiger most obsequiously. "I had just won a fair tournament against the other carnivores, as is our custom, when this upstart rat barged in and demanded we duel. Naturally, and quite generously, I obliged him, only to have my trust betrayed when he called up thousands of his fellows to overwhelm me. This is quite unheard of among our kind as trial by combat is universally understood to be a one-on-one contest. As I am the rightful winner of that contest, I should be ruler of the carnivores."

"Well said, tiger", agreed the orangutan, "well rat, what have you to say to that?"

"Fellow mammals, surely we all recognize that here there is but one supreme law, which is the law of the jungle. In nature, do not the ants gang up on their prey? They must in order to survive. Even among the carnivores, there is the wolf pack and other predators who use teamwork to hunt. There is no way a single rat could possibly defeat a tiger, which is why the eagle refuses to participate in the great carnivore tournament. You herbivores are well known to be wise and I trust you to reach the right judgement in this case."

The gorilla and the orangutan began to rub their chins thoughtfully, as though they were lost in thought. Just then, a group of strange creatures burst upon the scene. They walked on two legs and were mostly hairless. Some carried burning sticks while others carried long sticks with sharp stones on the end. There were many of them and they looked fierce. one of them casually tossed the tusk of an elephant into the midst of the group of animals. At last, one of them spoke.

"Greetings. We are called humans and we have been listening to you for a long time. We did not know animals could speak as we do, for you are the first of that sort we've ever met. We rule over all the earth because we are the smartest and have the best weapons. Our spears and fire are much better than your claws or fangs. There is no way you can defeat us, especially when we have weapons and fight in a group, as we are ready to do now. We will kill a few of you from time to time because we need to eat, just as you carnivores have been doing. Be warned, though, that if you kill any of us, you will surely die. The Animal Kingdom is hereby abolished. Now go and stay away from us unless we call you."

At this, the men raised their spears and began beating drums. The terrified animals scattered and ran. As the tiger ran for his life, he roared "truly man is the outlaw of the jungle!"