The Lore of ZooKazoo: Day 6

Today, congratulations are in order for a great writer who forgot to sign his or her work with a Zelf name. If you recognize your paragraph in today's chapter, send a comment and let me know you wrote it. Ok, Day 6. We return to the story. . .

The sun had barely risen when King Mo climbed down from his Palace Tree to survey the troops he had called for. Honestly, they were a pretty weird looking crew. Rows and rows of apple cores made up the King's highly trusted Apple Corps. (A corps of cores? LOL. Hmmmmm.) They were his best spies. Nobody pays any attention to old apple cores, so they made very good spies. They'd just lie around unnoticed, listening and watching. The only danger was occasionally getting tossed into a garbage can or being grabbed and eaten by a squirrel. Occupational hazards. But they watched out for each other and were rarely nabbed by clean-niks or rodents. 

The other group of King Mo's soldiers was his trusted Monkey Troop. While he had hundreds of monkeys at his command, those who paraded in front of him were his very best. Truthfully, they looked funny as they marched in review, dragging their knuckles on the ground. He knew, however, that once they entered the jungle and leaped into the trees, they were as graceful as dancers and as fast as the wind.

The parade ended with the troop and corp standing in ranks in front of their king. There was not a sound as they waited for their orders. "The Princess is missing," began Mo. He steadied his voice. "She has not been seen for 24 hours. Your mission is to find her. I want her safely returned to the Palace by nightfall. Spread out through the kingdom and find her. Now, go!"

For just an instant his soldiers seemed frozen in disbelief. How could their beloved princess have disappeared? Their faces hardened with resolve. Proud they had been called to this mission, they rushed to obey the King's orders.

King Mo still looked worried, Queen Marcy noticed as she stared down from her palace window. She took a sip of her morning tea and silently hoped the corps and troop were successful.

At the very same time, steam rose from the sizzling embers of the previous night's fire as Kazooba poured water on them. In Jungaloo, you learned at a very young age to do everything you could to protect the jungle.

Growler was busy trying to smooth down a tuft of his fur that was sticking straight up between his ears. Licking his paw, and rubbing and rubbing it over the wild hairs, they stubbornly kept springing back. He glared at his reflection in the lake: "Ridiculous, I look ridiculous."

"Are you going to keep staring at your mug all day or are we going to explore further around the lake?" said Kazooba. "You know, you are pretty vain for a tiger."

"Never mind," said Growler, a little bit embarrassed at being caught making such a fuss over his coat. "I'm more hungry than vain."

They wound their way down the twisty trail. A birdcall and flapping wings drew Kazooba's attention to the tree tops. "Tiki berries!" she shouted. "My mother told me that the are ever so good."

Growler looked up and saw the delicious fruit. The tree was loaded with berries. "Yum!" he exclaimed, equally excited.

Kazooba looked at him, a bit amazed. "Aren't you a carnivore, Growler?"

"Me? Heavens no! I can't stand the taste of meat. I'm a vegetarian."

Kazooba just shook her head and laughed and Growler joined in.

"I guess I have more surprises than stripes in store for you, Kazooba. Watch this." In a flash, he was once again the tiniest tiger imaginable, just as Kazooba had first met him. Small as a squirrel, he leaped to the trunk of the tiki berry tree, calling back over his shoulder as he climbed, "Spread your blanket over the trail under the tree." He scampered higher and higher. At this size he could jump from branch to branch easily and shake them as he went. Berries fell like rain and soon covered completely Kazooba's blanket.

In another flash, Growler began to grow in size. The branch he was on began to bend lower to the ground. The larger he grew, the more the branch bent until he was able to simply step off safely. Twang! The branch snapped back high over the trail. More berries rained down.

Growler took a deep bow and said, "Enjoy." They feasted on the luscious berries. For awhile, they completely forgot their worries.

A Short Break

We'll take a short break from our story about the Lore of ZooKazoo, today, in order to share a poem that was written and submitted by bubblegumball. We were really blown away and we hope you like it too.

There once was a girl small and stout

Who dreamed of a place she could hang out.

And there, in a half a second, with no doubt

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzza! She had an idea.

She went in the woods and called it her own,

Put down a flag and danced around.

She made houses, dens, and caves galore

And called it ZooKazoo -- but that's not all --

Pretty soon tigers, cheetas, pandas and more

came to this place they loved even more.

She called them Kazoobians and her dream world was done!

----by bubblegumball

Thanks bubblegumball for the great poem. Tomorrow, we'll go back to the story.

The Lore of ZooKazoo -- Day 5

Welcome back to the story and thanks for all of your comments. Many of you think this is getting too scary, and several of you are worried that Growler is going to turn out to be a bad guy, too. Send me ideas about the good things that Growler has done in his past so that we can be sure he is going to stay one of the story's heroes. Also, if the story is turning too scary in your opinion, send me ideas about funny ways to lighten it up. 

Many of you have also asked me to stop putting people's names up unless they really are writing things that get added to the story, so I'm going to go with that. To get your name up, you have to send me ideas for the story. Before beginning today's segment, I want to thank the following ZooKazooers who are helping me write the story: "Barack Obama," Spot, me23456, Amber, Diamond Princess, Latina Chick, Fluffy, Batman, stargirl123, and Pollen Dust Pedal. OK, here we go! Day 5....

Kazooba and Growler had walked a long way on a path through the jungle that followed the edge of the lake. Exhausted and hungry and with night falling fast, they pushed their way through a thick green tangle of plants until they broke back out to the edge of the lake. They ate a bit of food from Kazooba's pack. Growler was so hungry his stomach moaned in a low, rumbly way that made Kazooba wonder if that's how he had gotten his name.

They built a fire for the night. Kazooba still sat up with her blanket over her knees. Growler was curled in a ball on the other side of the fire trying to get to sleep. He stirred restlessly and said, "Would you please stop that? I'm trying to get to sleep."

"Stop what?" Kazooba said, looking a bit startled and a little annoyed. "I'm just sitting over here thinking about where we should go tomorrow."

"Thinking is good, Princess," Growler replied in his deep but softest voice. "But what's with that 'bwok, bwok, bwok' sound you keep making?"

Kazooba laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, that's an old habit that drives my mom crazy, too. When I think, I drum my fingers on my forehead and my little suction cups stick to my forehead. Then they go 'bwok, bwok, bwok, bwok' as I pull them loose. I really don't even know it's happening or where the habit comes from, but I kinda like the way it feels. I'll stop, Growler. Sleep tight."

Kazooba's mom and dad, the King and Queen of Jungaloo, were at that very same moment wishing Kazooba was right there with them. They would not even have complained about her annoying habit. They were worried sick about Kazooba. She had been missing for more than 24 hours.

Queen Marcy scolded her husband, "What kind of king are you, anyway? Your daughter has been missing for more than a day and you have no clue where she is or why she's gone."

King Mo just frowned. He wasn't angry with anyone but him self. He suspected that Kazooba had run away because of the argument they had had the day before. He knew she was upset because he never took her seriously. She was his baby, but he knew she was rapidly growing up. He wished for what could never be — that she could just stay his little girl. "At dawn, tomorrow," he thought, "I'll send my Apple Core and the Chimp Army to the far reaches of the realm to find her." He only hoped that she had found shelter and a good family to keep her fed and safe. 

As he sat unhappy and worried, he drummed his fingers on his forehead, "Bwok, bwok, bwok, bwok." Queen Marcy just rolled her eyes, then stared out the window wondering where her daughter could possibly be. "Bwok, bwok, bwok, bwok" was the only sound to be heard.

The Lore of ZooKazoo -- Day 4

OK. Yesterday, over 100 of you shared your comments. Natasha, you said there were too many typos and you were correct. I'll try to keep the suction pads on the end of my fingers from sticking to the keys today. Maddie, you made the biggest plea to put your name up, so there you go, Maddie. A lot of you just said, "Hi," and others just said to keep telling the story. Some of you said, well, uh, I guess you can't please everyone. LOL. But this is your story, you are helping to write it -- like Cortney, who suspects that Growler has more powers than we have seen so far. So keep the ideas coming.

Today we learn about the elf, that's The Elf. Here we go. . . 

As Princess Kazooba gathered her things and added the bottle and map to her pack, Growler too a last slurp of water from the lake. He smiled at the magnificent tiger face that reflected back at him. "Not bad," he thought and splashed the water with his enormous paw.

Elsewhere, a long way away, a very different face peered up from the dark, still waters of a cave pool. Red eyes, ringed with green scales, a mouth without lips, and ears that stood too tall and sharp looked back at the twisted body that leaned over the water -- The Elf -- Silvercurst. His life had taken a very different path than his sun-loving elfin kin of the Jungle. Like the Princess, he, too, had left home at an early age, angry at being the middle child. He was too young to be taken seriously like his older brother but old enough to have to take care of his younger brother. His leaving would show them how much he would be missed. He hoped they grieved. All these years later, however, he had given up on any notion that they might care enough to come after him.

His loneliness turned to disappointment and his disappointment became anger. Years passed and he spent all of his time thinking of his plight and the anger turned to rage and a terrible need to get even. In his part of the Jungle, he had had time to change things. Day changed to night so dark that the sun no longer came at all. No one came to his Jungle without his permission -- and no one left either.

Now, in the semi-darkness of his cave, an errie light reflected on the walls. This was all the home he had, and all the home he needed. He didn't even notice the fowl smell of the sulfur gas that bubbled from the pool, as he focused on the images of his old adversary, Growler, and the new comer, a young Kazoobian who stood a little too straight and moved with too much athletic grace.

Once, long ago, after he had learned the very special way to touch the waters of his pool and mutter the right words, the pool had warned him of a young maid who would appear one day. "Hmmmmm," he scowled, "she's only a brat." He watched Growler and the girl leave the lake's edge and hasten down a path into the jungle. Whether she was the girl in the prophesy or not, she would have a very difficult time finding him and a very bad time if she did.

The Lore of ZooKazoo -- Day 3

Wow, 147 of you posted story ideas and opinions yesterday. Here's the list of authors of the best posts: Sara (there, you got to see your name:-)), cupcake, Rebekkah196, vasia, bubblegumball (wrote an entire poem!), Kelly, buttercup, horselover1999, horselover2, Batman, Kassie, Lilian, Cleo, shodow06, Jaylin, and several more who wrote great paragraphs but forgot to put in their zelf's names.

For those of you just catching up with ZooKazoo Lore, here is a recap: Day 1 -- The scene is set in a mysterious jungle. Rays of sunshine sparkled off a bottle that tumbled through a waterfall and glittered like a jewel. When it hit the lake below, it sank but bobbed up to the top. In the bottle was an old piece of parchment.

Day 2 -- A whit hand with suctino cups on its fingers reached for the bottle when it floated near to shore. The hand was that of Princess Kazooba. She opened the bottle and found that the old parchment was a map. At the bottom of the map were three warnings: never go into lion pass without a weapon, always check behind you, and NEVER cross the old rugged bridge.

And now, The Lore of ZooKazoo -- Day 3

Princess Kazooba sat on the bank of the lake an studied the map. She carefully memorized the three warnings. Even now, she looked over her shoulder to watch behind her. She cupped her hand and dipped it into the lake to take a drink. As she raised her hand to her mouth, a drop of water fell on the map. The spot where the water soaked in began to glow.

Yes, a secret message appeared: "Find the armor within yourself, before you fight to defeat the Elf." What elf? Is this what the map was about -- the way to find the elf? As she thought aobut all of these questions, there was a quiet rustle in the leaves behind her -- so soft, she almost missed it.

She sprang to her feet, spun around, and at the same time pulled her dagger from her pack. And then -- she began to laugh. The tiniest tiger she could ever imagine seeing, looked up at her with its huge eyes. Slowly, the tiny tiger came near to her until he could rub his chin on her shoe. Kazooba laughed again and reached down to pick the little guy up and scratch his ears.

But as she touched him, the tiger changed! It flashed and grew into a huge jungle cat, the king of all predators. In a deep voice, he boomed her name, "Kazooba. I've waited a long time to meet you!"

Kazooba's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. How had this creature known her name?

The tiger spoke again, "You may call me Growler. Don't worry, I am here to help you. You have a destiny to fulfill and a terrible challenge before you."

For tomorrow: what was the terrible challenge? Why could Growler talk? And what's up with the evil elf, anyway?

Thanks to "John Mccain", "Barack Obama", Katey, Zipper, Kitt, Vasia, Shasta, Tigger, Shokey and Batman for your comments. The Lore Wizard has put them together into today's segment.

The Lore of ZooKazoo -- Day 2

Standing on the shore was a Kazoobian princess. She had fled her palace because she was tired of being treated like a child. She knew she could do great things. She carried on her back a blanket for sleeping, some food, a dagger and some rope.

She had been hiking all night and now, as the sun rose, she saw the bottle tumble down the falls. It landed in the lake, disappeared, but then bobbed up and was floating right to her. She reached out with her hand. The suction cups on the tips of her Kazoobian fingers gripped the bottle and she pulled it from the lake.

She fished out the old, yellow, parchment and unrolled it. It was a MAP. Her excitement grew as she read the warnings below the map. 1. Never enter the lion pass without a weapon. 2. Always check behind you and avoid predators. 3. NEVER cross the old rugged bridge!

For tomorrow--What was on the map? Where did it tell Princess Kazooba to go first? What was she supposed to do when she got there?

The Legend Begins

A long, long time ago, in a far-away place, a tall mountain stood over a vast, green jungle. A waterfall tumbled from its very top, thousands of feet to an unimaginably deep lake below.

Early one morning, something glinted in the water at the top of the falls, catching the first rays of the golden sunrise that touched the mountain's top. The object sparkled like a jewel as it fell. For a moment, the glittering item was lost in the tumbling water of the falls, but it reappeared and then disappeared many times during its long descent. 

At the bottom, the roar of the water as it struck the deep waters of the lake was deafening. Foam and spray splashed everywhere and filled the air with shimmering rainbows. The shiny object was gone, nowhere to be seen. But then, in a quiet ripple that circled out and away from the great thundering falls, it appeared. Bobbing up and down — a bottle, a simple bottle. In it was a yellowed parchment — a note.

What was written on the note? Who was standing at the edge of the lake to see the bottle fall and retrieve it? Why was he, she, or it there? Tell us what happens next. Help us write the story of ZooKazoo.

Kazoobian Folklore

Once upon a time....

Check back soon for another story at the ZooKazoo Story Lodge!!