Beesa was funny and sweet and when you looked at her beautiful face, her eyes shone like a warm nuzzle. She was a good and patient mother, and everyone who knew her loved her. And when the moon stood at its zenith enchanting the acacia trees with a silver luster, an angry elephant crushed her body and left her there to die.
Small Lisani huddled by her Aunt Isha and trembled. The enormity of her mother’s death was an inescapable burden wounding her cubhood innocence to the core.
When Lisani was alone with Isha, she worked up nerve enough to ask a question--THE question.
“How did it happen?”
“We had been hunting all night, but by midmoon we had nothing to show it. By the moonlight we could see the small group of elephants in the distance, but Uzuri told us to ignore them. But you know your mother--Beesa saw that a calf had strayed too far from the group and she must have thought she could cut it off and out of the herd.
“Uzuri was calling out our sweep pattern. We were going with the fork pattern, and she was going to lead the left wing. She wanted Beesa in the trail spot, but didn’t see her anywhere. She asked about your Mom, but no one had seen her.
Then Malaika saw her. There was this big elephant cow sneaking up behind Beesa. Uzuri shouted for her to watch out, but by the time your mom turned around it was too late. That elephant charged her and tossed her like a twig, then it stomped on her.”
Lisani gasped deeply and let it out in a shrill shriek. As tears streamed down her face, she ran in tight circles shrieking, then bit herself on the flank so hard that a few red drops stained her fur. “Oh gods!” she shrieked almost incoherently. “Oh gods! Mommy! I love you, Mommy! Oh gods, it stepped on you! Oh gods! I love you! I love you Mommy! Can you hear me?? I love you!”
“Shh, honey tree!” Isha stopped her with a large paw and drew her to her side. “Shh, honey tree. Let it out on me. Isha’s here.”
Lisani buried her face in the soft fur of Isha’s side and shrieked while her aunt gently cleaned and soothed the wound on her leg. She sobbed. Then after a while it died down to a soft, mournful weeping that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. In the night sky, the two brothers had ascended, and the moon had long passed its zenith. Isha had seemed to drowse off, but her eyes never completely closed.
Finally Lisani spoke again. “Aunt Isha? Are you awake?”
“Yes, Honey Tree. I won’t sleep till you do.”
Lisani rubbed her face against Isha’s and kissed her repeatedly. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Be careful, Aunt Isha. You’re all I have left,” Lisani said. “If you died, I’d have to do my own hunting.”
Isha wept. “Oh child! What a thing to say!”
“Can I go see her?”
“No, Miss Priss.”
“Please??”
“Her body will be corban for a moon--those are the rules, and your mother would want you to obey them. I said good-bye for you.”
“Why are those the rules? Who makes these rules? Taka? He makes stupid rules--everyone says so!”
“Never let him hear you say that! You could get into trouble. But these were not his rules: They were made long ago because we go back to the earth from which our bodies came and our spirits go back to God from which they came. We are not to interfere with that. Aiheu’s pretty smart. He knows what he’s doing. When we die, he gathers us up and takes us to be with him, and he misses no one, no matter how big or small. Now the important point is that death is not an end in itself but a continuing of the path. This life is like swimming across a deep river. If you seek to avoid death, it is like swimming in circles forever, never reaching the other side.”
“But she wasn’t even old! She still had a lot of time left! It’s not fair!”
“I agree. It’s not fair. But honey tree, she left the world a better place than she found it. Her life had beauty and meaning, and through you a part of her goes on.” Isha nuzzled and kissed her.
Lisani considered her words carefully. “What happens then? After you die? I mean, what does it feel like?”
“I’m not sure, honey tree. But if God is there, it must be good. If only you could go to see Rafiki, I think he knows more about it than anyone else in the Pride Lands. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can get you to him. It’s the least they can do--this whole mess was their fault.”
Lisani lay next to Isha and Habusu and tried to sleep. But sleep was denied her. There was grief for sure, but there was also uncertainty. The dawn would not come--the night seemed a dreary eternity. So she finally decided to act on her own.
After a while, when Isha and Habu were asleep, she went across the sleepy savanna toward Rafiki’s baobab.
The guard stopped her at the perimeter of his confinement. The hyena looked down at her with some amusement at first, then he recognized her. He reached out with a paw, and Lisani shrank back, but he gently rubbed her shoulder and cheek. “Hello, Miss Priss. I’m so sorry about your mother. You know, my mother died when I was your age.”
“She did?”
“Yeah. My name’s Krull. You remember me, don’t you?”
“Isha says you’re one of the good ones.”
“Well that’s nice to know. You shouldn’t be out here after dark. It’s not safe.”
“I need to see Rafiki. I need it real bad.”
“Does Isha know you’re out here?”
“No. Don’t tell her, please?”
“I won’t. But it’s dangerous out here late at night.”
“Do you need any help?” one of the other guards asked.
“Sure. I thought I was done for till you got here. Save me!”
“You made your point, sir. But you know she’s not allowed here.”
Krull straightened up to full height. “You idiot, don’t you know who this is?? It’s Beesa’s daughter!”
“Oh.” The other hyena, who didn’t look anywhere as kind, stared at her. “So it is. Sorry about your mom and all. But no one gets to see Rafiki--orders of the Roh’mach.”
Krull smiled kindly, even patronizingly. “Look here, you. You weren’t thinking of reporting this, were you? Cause if you were, I’d have to rip out your liver and stomp on it till you changed your mind. Nothing personal, mind you, but this girl’s mother is dead. If she wants to see Rafiki, she sees Rafiki. Do you have a problem with that??”
“No sir.”
Krull escorted her to the tree and watched as she scrambled in. Rafiki was asleep, and when Krull awakened him, he opened one eye and asked, “What the devil is going on??”
“Shhhh, I have a little stowaway to see you. It’s Miss Priss.”
“Oh, Lisani! I didn’t see you back there! Are you sick, honey tree?”
“No, it’s my mother.”
“What is her problem? Is she very sick?”
Lisani started to cry. “Oh Rafiki!”
“She’s dead,” Krull said, bowing his head. “Stove through on the hunt.”
“Oh my gods!” Rafiki stammered. He gasped, and his face dropped as tears began to flood his eyes. As his trembling hands raised to his cheeks, he seemed to be trying to sort it all out. “Stove through?? Oh child! Oh, Miss Priss!” He gasped again. His chin trembled and he half-whispered, “Oh no!”
Lisani began to wail inconsolably. “The elephant stepped on her!”
Rafiki broke into uncontrollable sobs, scooping her up gently in his arms and hugging her to his chest. As tears coursed down his face, he kissed her again and again, stroking her small body and softly moaning in his despair. Lisani, who could relate more to his cub-like grief, put her paws around his neck and snuggled her face tightly under his chin, her lion tears wetting his throat.
Krull’s ears drooped and his tail hung limply. As his face looked away, tears slid down his cheeks and he stalked quietly away from the entrance.
Lisani kissed Rafiki and muttered, “What is it like when people die? Aunt Isha said you knew about that stuff.”
“I’ve had a few experiences with the spirit world. I’ve met Mano and Minshasa, you know.” He took the locket around his neck and opened it, holding the small tuft of white fur in front of her nose. It smelled like lion but it also smelled like wild honey. “This came from Mano’s mane. It was his gift to me long ago when I was young.”
Rafiki put his arms around her and gave her a comforting pat. “When you die, your last breath goes back to Aiheu, and with it, your Ka. At first, you can look down and see your body of Ma’at lying there, and you can see and hear what other people do. That’s why it’s important for you to show respect and grief when someone dies, to let them know that they were important and that their death is a great loss. But you must also let them know that it’s OK to go on and be with Aiheu so they will not feel guilty for leaving you. That’s part of the reason why a body is corban for a moon, though there are other more practical ones that spring to mind.”
“Then what happens?”
“There will be a bright light, a beautiful light more wonderful than the sun breaking through the storm clouds when a few golden rays touch a spot and make it special. You feel as you go toward that light that you are walking--indeed, you will feel that it is at the end of a canyon. The walls of this canyon are covered with shiny, brightly colored stones. Then you get through the canyon, and things broaden out till you can’t see any more of the walls, and the floor is covered in misty clouds. And you see on either side of you friends that wait for you. Some of them are people you’ve known. Others are people that just want you to feel welcome. Akase and Ahadi were probably there to welcome her. Mufasa, too. They come close and they touch you, and you feel warm and comfortable, and you cannot feel afraid no matter how hard you try. Then you come close to the light, and it’s Mano and Minshasa, the white lions, who come to escort you into the source of the light itself.”
“Aiheu?”
“Yes, my child. The light is from Lord Aiheu. And when you look in his face, all your questions will be answered, and your heart will be filled with love and happiness. And he will let you drink from his great river of milk that sustains the blessed in their home among the stars.” Rafiki looked at her worriedly. “Does Isha know you’re out here?”
“No.”
“Then you must sneak right back the way you came. But first there’s something else I want you to know.”
“What’s that?”
“Old Rafiki loves you very much.”
A tear slipped down Lisani’s cheek. “I love you too.”
Rafiki looked out the entrance. “Krull, you make sure she gets home all right, and don’t you dare wake Isha up. She shouldn’t have to get in trouble tonight.”
“I’ll see to it myself.”