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.
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