Once upon a time there was a huge jungle, and it was filled with hundreds of animals running around in the foliage. Now these animals were of all sizes and had the freedom to do and say as they please. Throughout the years the jungle had many arguments between the different animals. These arguments were usually solved through physical fights, which always got pretty intense and brutal. The worst fight was when a cheetah was caught stealing food from a tiger. Or these disagreements were never solved, and that was even worse because it caused the jungle to become divided.
After many years of spending their life like that, day in and day out, some of the animals found themselves beginning to have hope for change, especially those animals that were both small and weak. The animals wanted peace, and they wanted to be able to walk about the jungle without having to fear their enemies. It didn’t take long for the whispers of peace to travel through the jungle, and very soon it was a single wish that almost all of the animals in the jungle collectively possessed. Peace was in their mind and nothing would stop them from making it a reality. They were just not sure how to make it happen. All of the different types of animals in the jungle were in disagreement on how best to gain peace, and no one was stepping up.
A few weeks of disagreements went by and there had still been no change, and the animals were still fighting amongst each other. Up until now there had only been hopeful rumors of change. Finally, the monkeys decided to take charge and they called a meeting in the center of the jungle. They requested to have one representative from each type of animal attend the meeting. The meeting took place the following day. All of the animals sat in a circle with the monkeys in the middle. Each animal sent to the meeting was the most respected and wisest of its kind, and they were all confused about what they were doing there because there had never been an organized meeting in the jungle before.
The monkeys opened the meeting by explaining that this group was the elite of the jungle and would now be known as the council. They made it clear that this was how they proposed that the council made the decisions for the jungle from now on because it was the only way to have a representative from everyone in the jungle. Everyone else agreed unanimously. However, they still needed a king among the council, and everyone had an opinion about who this leader would be.
After a lot of disagreements, the council settled on three nominations. In the running for the king was the head monkey, the tiger, and the turtle. The monkey was an option because some of the animals thought the monkeys were smart enough to come up with the idea of the council, so they should be able to lead. The tiger was nominated because he was strong and would intimidate against enemies or thoughts of rebellion or attack. Finally, the turtle was nominated because he was one of the oldest in the jungle therefore he was the wisest and the most experienced.
The decision was set to a vote. All of the animals raised their paw for the animal they thought was best fit to lead. It was a quiet vote without too much discussion because there was a winner by a large majority. By the end of the vote they had a king. King Tiger made his debut as the leader and everyone finally saw peace in the future.
Author's Note:I wrote this story, Vote for King, as a prequel to the story "The Tiger and the Monkeys." It was my way of showing how the tiger became the king of the jungle. The original story just simply stated that there was a council in the jungle but never told how this came to be. I wanted to bring this part of the story to life in order to give the original story more substance and make it a little bit more believable. The original story focused on rebellion and trickery from the monkeys. The king heard a beautiful singing voice and made it known that he would marry the woman the voice belonged to. The monkeys tricked King Tiger into believing the voice belonged to one of their sisters. Once the king decided to marry her he found out it had all been a trick, and that the monkeys had been plotting to attack the king. The story ended with yet another bloody fight in the jungle and King Tiger being forever afraid of the monkeys. I would think the next part of the story would tell about an impeachment of the tiger and a new vote for king.
Bibliography: This story is based on the story,
The Tiger and the Monkeys. This story is part of the Khasi Folktales unit. Story source: Folk-Tales of the Khasis by Mrs. K. U. Rafy (1920).
