TEXT: Chapter 8 - The leader of the lions

THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

THE LEADER OF THE LIONS

JOHN DOLITTLE now became dreadfully, awfully busy.
He found hundreds and thousands of monkeys sick--gorillas,
orangoutangs, chimpanzees, dog-faced baboons, marmosettes,
gray monkeys, red ones--all kinds.  And many had died.

The first thing he did was to separate the
sick ones from the well ones.  Then he got
Chee-Chee and his cousin to build him a little
house of grass.  The next thing: he made all
the monkeys who were still well come and be
vaccinated.

And for three days and three nights the
monkeys kept coming from the jungles and the
valleys and the hills to the little house of grass,
where the Doctor sat all day and all night,
vaccinating and vaccinating.

Then he had another house made--a big one,
with a lot of beds in it; and he put all the sick
ones in this house.

But so many were sick, there were not enough
well ones to do the nursing.  So he sent
messages to the other animals, like the lions and the
leopards and the antelopes, to come and help
with the nursing.

But the Leader of the Lions was a very proud
creature.  And when he came to the Doctor's
big house full of beds he seemed angry and
scornful.

"Do you dare to ask me, Sir?" he said, glaring
at the Doctor.  "Do you dare to ask me--ME,
THE KING OF BEASTS, to wait on a lot of dirty
monkeys?  Why, I wouldn't even eat them
between meals!"

Although the lion looked very terrible, the
Doctor tried hard not to seem afraid of him.

"I didn't ask you to eat them," he said quietly.
"And besides, they're not dirty.  They've all
had a bath this morning.  YOUR coat looks as
though it needed brushing--badly.  Now
listen, and I'll tell you something: the day may
come when the lions get sick.  And if you don't
help the other animals now, the lions may
find themselves left all alone when THEY are
in trouble.  That often happens to proud people."  

"The lions are never IN trouble--they only
MAKE trouble," said the Leader, turning up his
nose.  And he stalked away into the jungle, feeling
he had been rather smart and clever.

Then the leopards got proud too and said
they wouldn't help.  And then of course the
antelopes--although they were too shy and timid
to be rude to the Doctor like the lion--THEY
pawed the ground, and smiled foolishly, and said
they had never been nurses before.

And now the poor Doctor was worried frantic,
wondering where he could get help enough
to take care of all these thousands of monkeys
in bed.

But the Leader of the Lions, when he got
back to his den, saw his wife, the Queen Lioness,
come running out to meet him with her hair
untidy.

"One of the cubs won't eat," she said.  "I
don't know WHAT to do with him.  He hasn't
taken a thing since last night."  

And she began to cry and shake with nervousness--
for she was a good mother, even though
she was a lioness.

So the Leader went into his den and looked
at his children--two very cunning little cubs,
lying on the floor.  And one of them seemed
quite poorly.

Then the lion told his wife, quite proudly,
just what he had said to the Doctor.  And she got
so angry she nearly drove him out of the den.
"You never DID have a grain of sense!" she
screamed.  "All the animals from here to the
Indian Ocean are talking about this wonderful
man, and how he can cure any kind of sickness,
and how kind he is--the only man in the whole
world who can talk the language of the animals!
And now, NOW--when we have a sick baby on
our hands, you must go and offend him!  You
great booby!  Nobody but a fool is ever rude
to a GOOD doctor.  You--," and she started pulling
her husband's hair.

"Go back to that white man at once," she
yelled, "and tell him you're sorry.  And take
all the other empty-headed lions with you--
and those stupid leopards and antelopes.  Then
do everything the Doctor tells you.  Work
hard!  And perhaps he will be kind enough
to come and see the cub later.  Now be off!--
HURRY, I tell you!  You're not fit to be a father!"

And she went into the den next door, where another
mother-lion lived, and told her all about it.

So the Leader of the Lions went back to the
Doctor and said, "I happened to be passing this
way and thought I'd look in.  Got any help yet?"

"No," said the Doctor.  "I haven't.
And I'm dreadfully worried."  

"Help's pretty hard to get these days," said
the lion.  "Animals don't seem to want to work
any more.  You can't blame them--in a way.
...Well, seeing you're in difficulties, I don't
mind doing what I can--just to oblige you--
so long as I don't have to wash the creatures.
And I have told all the other hunting animals
to come and do their share.  The leopards
should be here any minute now....  Oh, and
by the way, we've got a sick cub at home.  I
don't think there's much the matter with him
myself.  But the wife is anxious.  If you are
around that way this evening, you might take
a look at him, will you?"

Then the Doctor was very happy; for all the
lions and the leopards and the antelopes and
the giraffes and the zebras--all the animals of
the forests and the mountains and the plains
--came to help him in his work.  There were
so many of them that he had to send some away,
and only kept the cleverest.

And now very soon the monkeys began to
get better.  At the end of a week the big house
full of beds was half empty.  And at the end
of the second week the last monkey had got well.

Then the Doctor's work was done; and he
was so tired he went to bed and slept for three
days without even turning over.