The end becomes the beginning.
Jungle Emperor Leo.
A Bright New Future.
Epilogue.
Leo and Liya slowly opened their eyes, exchanged a loving glance then caressed each other’s face.
Both looked up and beheld the wonderful world that surrounded them.
They had left their family and friends somewhere behind but they felt no sorrow.
Leo looked at Liya and noticed how young and beautiful she was and noticed that his own fur was brilliant white again.
“Leo, are..are we dead ? Is this….Heaven ?” asked Liya looking at Leo’s white fur.
“Well we’re certainly not dead. I don’t know if it’s heaven, it may be, but….somehow…I…feel like this place is familiar.” Said Leo standing up without effort for the first time in a long time.
Liya stood up and she too noticed that her joints didn’t hurt anymore.
“Leo, what a beautiful place this is, such a warm breeze, and oh Leo, isn’t that air just, so sweet.” She said sniffing high in the air.
Leo continued to look around himself wondering why this place looked so familiar.
“I know!” exclaimed Leo suddenly. “ It’s familiar because this is our jungle and grasslands.”
“Well it does look something like it but…” answered Liya.
“Yes. Look. It only looks different because everything is so green and there are so many more trees.”
“But Leo, are we the only ones here ?” She asked.
“Well, we may be. Let’s look around a little.”
“Leo.” Said a voice from behind.
“Liya.” Another voice from behind.
Both turned to look and hesitated for a moment until both realized who had called their names.
“FATHER……MOTHER !” Both lions yelled at the same time, in wide-eyed surprise and ran to meet their parents.
Liya slowed her run just a little to look at Leo’s mother and father and, in her excitement and joy continued on to her parents who stood a short way behind Leo’s parents.
Leo ran to his mother and father full of joy, then slowed down to approach them slowly and gently.
Leo, filled with unimaginable happiness, focused on to his mother and walked to her crying uncontrollably. He had spent a lifetime possessed by guilt at being unable to save his mother and now she was standing right here with him. Leo stood quite still for a moment looking at her, as he recollected his memories of her love, her warmth, her strength and how she looked at him sadly as he prepared to jump off the ship.
“Oh mother…”sobbed Leo, “I’m sorry, mother..I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I’ve missed you so much.” Said Leo crying with joy.
Eliza tilted her head lovingly and smiled at her son who had become the great white lion she had instructed him to be. She held her paw out and Leo melted into her arms.
“Oh mamma..mamma, mamma…”said Leo crying into his mother’s fur.
“Oh my poor dear little white lion, you’ve carried that with you all of your life. There’s nothing you could have done to save me. The way it happened was just exactly how it had to be. You’re home now and we’re together forever just as we were always meant to be. You certainly became the great white lion I told to become, didn’t you?” she said beginning to lick his forehead. “Now, my Leo, there is another great white lion you must say hello to.” Continued Eliza, giving Leo a little nudge with her head.
In his joy at seeing his mother for the first time since he jumped from the ship’s porthole, Leo had walked past his father but Eliza’s reminder made him realize immediately and he stood up instantly jumping on his father and throwing him to the ground.
“Oh…Father.” Said Leo as he lay on top of his father licking his face
“My son, finally I meet you in person. Your mother and I have been watching you for such a long time.
And oh, how proud of you we are. You have become the greatest of white lions.”
Panja turned onto his back then drew his son close to him and embraced him and both great white lions lay in each other’s embrace for a long time while Eliza lovingly looked on.
“Finally, we’re all together.” Thought Eliza with all the love in the universe in her heart.
Soon Leo and Panja released each other and both stood up to see Liya and her parents walking towards them.
Leo looked at Liya’s face and into her eyes. She had cried too and her face and fur were also wet.
Epilogue. 2
As Liya walked up to Leo she and Leo gently bumped their foreheads and then caressed each other’s faces as they always did. All of the parents exchanged loving glances then, Panja spoke.
“Come Leo, Liya, there are others you need to meet.”
The six lions all walked over to the edge of a cliff, which was around a hundred feet high.
Leo and Liya opened their eyes wide and stood open mouthed in awe of the sight in front of them.
Below them in a valley that seemed to go on forever, there stood countless thousands of white lions, just like himself.
As Leo looked at them all in amazement, all of the white lions raised their heads toward him, and roared.
Thousands upon thousands of white lions roared their respect and love for Leo, as Liya
leaned lovingly on to Leo’s side.
Leo turned to look at his father. Panja looked back at Leo and nodded, “This is for you, my son.”
Soon the roaring stopped and Leo tried hard to contain himself.
Leo straightened his stance and held himself as the king he had been and roared his acknowledgement to all of his fellows.
Here, he was no longer a king, for here there was no need to be a king. He was a great white lion like his father and all of his fathers before him.
Soon all of the white lions in the valley dispersed and many of them made their way up to greet Leo and his wife, Liya.
A great multitude of white lions and lionesses walked on this beautiful never-ending plain, each with their own story to tell.
Leo and Liya and their mothers and fathers walked at the head of the crowd as Leo looked ahead and all around, astounded to see all of the majesty of this place. There were gently rolling hills, mountains in the distance with snow covered peaks and although this was grassland there were many trees.
Everywhere he and Liya looked, as far as the eye could see, there were animals, all at peace, all happy.
Heaven seemed so full of animals yet not crowded.
There were animals here that neither Leo nor Liya had ever seen before. Gigantic land animals some of which were bigger than Ofukurosan. Some walking on four legs and others on two. There were those that looked like they could be quite fierce but there seemed to be nothing to fear from them. Some of these giant animals could even fly. They flew like birds but they weren’t birds.
And of course there were so many of the animals that he was familiar with.
Lions, giraffes, cheetahs, leopards, gazelles, wildebeest and, even the hyenas were behaving themselves.
As the crowd of white lions walked, Panja stopped suddenly.
Leo noticed his father stop and fix his gaze on something and he looked ahead to see what had gripped his father’s attention.
A short way in front of them appeared a bright sphere of brilliant white light about five meters across, holding itself just a few feet off the ground.
“What is that, father? Is that a star?” asked Leo as he stood a short distance in from it.
Panja looked at Leo but did not answer.
“Leo, Liya” Said a sweet, kind and gentle voice that seemed to come from within the sphere.
Neither Leo nor Liya felt any fear.
“Leo, Liya.” Repeated the voice. “Come, there is one more thing you both must do.”
Leo looked at Panja, and then Eliza and Liya looked at him.
“It’s alright my son, go.” Said Panja, swinging his head in the direction of the sphere.
Leo looked at Liya, and then both walked slowly toward the sphere of light and then slowly disappeared into it.
Both stood in a dimly lit, white foggy haze, when the voice spoke to them.
“Leo, Liya. Welcome.” Said the voice. “I am the voice of the ones who were and the ones who will be.
We are the guardians of this domain, all are safe here for ever.”
The voice went on to explain to Leo and Liya the reasons for everything that had happened in their lives and why he had met Higeoyaji. The voice told Leo of the choices Higeoyaji had made on the mountain and that, he had, in fact, been given two choices. Leo was told of Higeoyaji’s final destiny many years from now and that it was indeed going to be a great and noble destiny.
Epilogue 3
“Leo, Liya, your friends will need some encouragement.” Said the voice.
Leo looked beside him and then Liya looked and below them they saw their grieving family and Higeoyaji
standing on the old terrace looking up at them.
“Liya!” exclaimed Leo, “ They’re looking at us, they’re looking at us.”
“Yes, Leo they can see us, they know we’re here, they know we’re alright.” said Liya.
Leo and Liya looked down and Leo roared first then Liya.
Then both heard Higeoyaji’s voice, “ One day, I and all of us, will see you both again Leo, Liya.”
Both lions roared again, “ You will indeed, Higeo. Yes my family and friends you will indeed.”
As they both roared at their family and friends the way out of the sphere of light was shown to them.
“Good bye for now, Leo and Liya.” Said the voice as they both rejoined their parents and all of the animals on the plain, then the lions watched as the sphere slowly vanished.
“My son,” said Panja.“Lets walk, all of us, together, there’s still so much to talk about and so much to see.”
Soon the crowd of white lions broke up leaving Leo and Liya with their parents walking through this place of beauty and wonder.
Suddenly a familiar voice rang out from behind; the voice was puffing and panting yet very, very happy.
“I know that voice,” said Leo looking back. “Tomy!”
“Oh Tomy, it’s so good to see you.” Said Leo as Tomy skidded past him.
Tomy turned around quickly and walked back to him. “Leo, Liya. I’m so happy too. So happy to see you both again. So happy to be with you both here.”
“Tomy, Tomy. How we all missed you. You left us so suddenly.” Said Liya, beginning to cry again.
Both Leo and Liya stood on either side of him and the three greeted each other joyfully for a while.
It was good to see him again but a little strange to see him without Coco and without his beloved hat.
Soon the three friends settled down and Tomy, the gazelle, joined all the lions on their walk.
“Leo.” Said Panja, looking straight ahead while Leo walked beside him, sniffing his father’s mane.
His father smelt so much better than the hide he had cherished and he was so very warm and real.
Panja continued, “While I was in the jungle I had such a terrible hatred for humans and their ways.
I only saw their cruelty, their selfishness, their greed. I saw them only as evil. I hated them so much that I never tried to find whatever goodness there may have been in them. I never gave them a chance.”
As Panja spoke the group arrived at a small waterfall and took a long drink.
“This water…it’s different.” Said Liya, tasting it and then taking another drink.
“Yes, it is different. It tastes soooo gooood.” Confirmed Leo.
As the group sat down on the cool grass Panja continued, “ You, my son, you gave humans a chance. You saw the wisdom of friendship with them. Yes Leo, it came at a price. But your wisdom has opened the door for a bright new future for all living things. If I had met your friend Higeo I know I would not have accepted him. If you had not given this human a chance, if your heart had been closed like mine, most of the animals would have died when the Purpura came.” Said Panja, with tears welling into his eyes.
“I often heard you cry, hoping that you could be as great as your father Panja. Son, you were always greater than I ever was and you have become greater than I could ever have been.”
Leo looked directly into his father’s eyes. His father was humbling himself before him, but Leo certainly didn’t feel greater than Panja and didn’t ever want to be.
Leo remembered a little bit of wisdom that Higeo had shared with him on one of the many occasions that they had sat quietly sharing each other’s wisdom and company out on the shady terrace.
“Father, I am your son, I have always been and will always be proud to be the son of the great Panja.
But as my friend Higeo told me on several occasions, you and I and every thing around us, we are all brothers, you and I father, neither one greater than the other. We are both the same, only the circumstances of our lives were different.” Leo then shuffled closer to his father, his brother, and held him.
Liya looked proudly and lovingly at her one true love, the one she was going to be with and love forever.
Eliza looked at him too, seeing the brave, tiny little cub that had jumped into the raging sea.
Liya’s parents looked at her, so proud of their lioness, and, the queen she had become.
“My son,” continued Panja, “ you have done so exceedingly well. My Jungle Emperor, Leo”
