In the middle of the jungle, was a big and beautiful park. It was the one place where all the animals came together whenever they felt like having a chat or to have meetings.
On this particular day, all the animals came together in the park to have a meeting. There was something very important to discuss. As a result of drought and shortages of food, many animals started to fight with each other and the only to way to put a stop to this, was to choose a King.
The Giraffe said: "I would like to explain why I should be the King". Everyone looked up to him anyways and he felt very important. "I am the tallest animal here. I can reach very high places and can see far and wide over the horizon."
Most of the animals admired him for this talent and nodded their heads to agree, except for Lion. He had a very irritated look on his face. "You are tall, Giraffe, but you're not strong!" The animals started thinking about what Lion said and agreed that although Giraffe has the advantage to see far and wide, he will not be able to protect them from danger. "I am very strong," Lion said. "I should be king!" To prove his point, he walked over to Giraffe and bit his leg.
Giraffe cried out, "Let me go, please, let me go. You are stronger than me and you're teeth are very sharp. You should be King!"
"No no no no no," said Elephant. "Lion is unpredictable and arrogant. He just proved that to all of us." Elephant put his heavy foot on Lion's back. "I am much bigger and stronger than Lion, and I never forget a thing. I should be King!"
The Lion cried out, "Take your foot off my back, please, take it off. Yes, you are stronger and much bigger than me. You should be King!"
Just then the Porcupine came up to the Elephant and said: "You can't be King, you big old bully! I should be the King!"
"You can't be King!" laughed Elephant and all the other animals. They laughed and laughed until their tummies hurt. Elephant lifted his big foot and just as he wanted to step on Porcupine, he quickly jumped back and cried out with pain. He had a nasty quill in his foot.
"If you don't let me be King, I will put quills in all your feet," said Porcupine.
All the animals watched as Giraffe, Elephant and Lion took a few steps back in fear of Porcupine's quills. None of them had the courage he had to stand up to big animals like them. They were just as surprised to see those three big animals so afraid of a little Porcupine.
There were many whispers among the animals and when everything was completely quiet, Owl made a statement:
"The tribe has spoken. Porcupine is King. Hoo hoo!"
His words weren't cold yet when it started to rain and didn't stop for three whole days. The forest was nice and wet, the flowers started blooming and there were fruits everywhere.
Porcupine called a meeting next to the river. All the animals eagerly gathered to hear what their new King has to say.
King Porcupine cleared his throat.
"Dear beloved friends of the community" he started his speech, but nobody could hear him.
Giraffe came closer and asked: "Would you like to sit on my head so that everyone will be able to see you, my King?"
Porcupine agreed and hopped on. Everybody now had a clear view of Porcupine.
"Dear beloved friends of the community," he continued.
"We are gathered here today to celebrate the rain. I chose this spot so that we all could witness how nice and full the river is. We have been waiting for so long to see the river as full as it is now. I call on each and everyone of you to use the water sparingly. I will appoint Elephant to guard the river. With his big trunk, he will provide all of you with a bucket of water everyday. And Lion, he is strong and will guard the fruits with his life. Everyone can eat three proper meals each day, as long as you receive your fruits from Lion. As for Giraffe, he will pick the fruits from the tallest trees and provide it as snacks. Everybody else, will work together to keep our forest clean and we should all work together as a team if we want to survive until winter."
The animals were very happy about this ruling. King Porcupine wasn't very strong, but he was clever. He made a plan to keep them all happy, to stop them from fighting and to give responsibilities to the three biggest animals in the forest that fits their personalities and makes them feel as important as they should be.
