Nothing stirred on the African plains. The sun glared down, and Hare crept inside the cool hollow of a baobab tree for his afternoon nap.
Suddenly, he was wide awake. A booming sound echoed in his ears, growing closer. Hare peeped out from the tree nervously. Across the clearing, the bushes snapped and parted, and a huge gray shape loomed.
"Oh, it's you!" said Hare irritably. "How can a fellow sleep with all your racket?"
The rhinoceros squinted down at him short-sightedly.
"Greetings!" he bellowed slowly. "Tembo the elephant sent me to fetch you to the waterhole. He's going to announce our new king. All the animals have voted."
"Oh fiddlesticks!" cried Hare rudely. "What do I want with a new king? He'll bully us from morning till night and make our lives miserable."
"Don't you want to see who's been chosen?" asked Rhino.
"I already know," snapped Hare. "It will be that sly old lion, Kali. He bribed the others, promising not to eat their children if they voted for him."
Rhino seemed unconvinced. Finally, Hare relented.
"Oh, very well, I'll come. But you'll see I'm right."
As the sun set, Hare and Rhino reached the waterhole. All the animals had gathered—giraffes, hippos, antelope, buffalo, warthogs, zebras, aardvarks, hyenas, mongooses, storks, and weaver birds. Seeing everyone present, Tembo the elephant raised his trunk and trumpeted.
"Animals of the plains, I am proud to announce that Kali the lion will be our new king. It is a wise choice, my friends."
The animals cheered, but Hare only sighed. "They'll soon see what a horrible mistake they've made."
Kali strode out onto a rocky ledge above the waterhole. He stared down at his subjects, a wicked glint in his eye.
"You've made me your king," he growled, "and now you'll serve me!" His roar made the animals tremble.
"My first decree," declared Kali, "is that you must build a palace to shade my royal fur from the hot sun. I want it here beside the waterhole, and I want it finished by sunset tomorrow."