The tale of how the Rhinoceros got his horn

The Rhinoceros was given his name because of the horn on his nose, but he did not always have this horn, O best beloved. O no. He was once known as the Simoneos, or flat-nosed-one, and he would snuffle his way along the ground eating the sweet grasses of the savannah and letting the pretty birds sit on his back and eat the fat ticks behind his ears.

One day, O best beloved, the little Simoneos was having a dust bath under the shade of a big ban-yan tree, with its purple leaves waving, wafting and cooling him as he used his flat nose to spade the dust up, up into the air and cover him gently. While he was enjoying this bath, the boa constrictor, Bo, came slithering along the path to visit him.

"'Lo, Bo!" smiled Simoneos.

" Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Sssssssssimoneossssssssssss! My dear friend! Have you a ssssssecond for your friend, Bo?" Simoneos stopped his bathing and put his head on one side. "You sound as though there is something important on your mind, my friend".

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, Sssssssssssssssssimonoesssssss! There is trouble in the animal kingdom. It weighssss very heavily on my ssssssimple mind, for the King of all animalssssss, Leo the Lion hassss eaten a hyena which had drunk the poissssoned watersss of the pool of Ssssowe. He isss now very ill and nothing, it sssseemssss can help him. Already the Evil One, Feliniussss, waitssss for Leo'ssss death to sssssnatch away the Lion-crown and marry Leah, Leo'sss wife.

What evil timessss will befall ussss then, for there will be war between hisss pride and Leo'ssss and Leah will die of heartbreak and missssery!"

"This *is* a bad and sad time for us then, Bo, my friend. It will not be safe for me, who has lived a peaceful life on these plains, to try and defend with my flat nose, nor you, with neither arms nor legs to escape the war-waging lions. There must be something that will help the King. He is still young and his body must surely repair". "The poisssssoned water of pool of Ssssowe hassss only one cure. And that isss tea made from the leaves of the bulewo plant. That plant, assss you know, only growssss when the rainssssss fall. And we have had no rain for many, many monthssss".

This was a sad time for the friends, O best beloved. And as the red balloon of a sun sank behind the horizon, Simoneos and Bo went to sleep with heavy hearts.

As he slept, little Simoneos dreamt a strange dream, O best beloved. All the pretty birds who sat behind his ears and ate the fat ticks seemed to whisper and tweet at him, "We can help if you can help *us*!", they sang in tiny voices. All night long he had the same dream and the same song buzzing and ringing in his ears but the sleep was so gentle and sweet he did not want to awaken.

When he felt the sun on his back, he woke up and looked around him. Where were the birds of his dream? Why was it so still when there had been so much noise in his sleep? There were only the usual sounds of the early morning. There were the big round buzzing bees and the squeaking, lively monkeys, the squabbling sound of the baby elephants as they played around the still pools, the galloping of zebra as they teased the young cheetahs. Bo had slithered off to find a tree to hide in and to weep snake tears.

But, O best beloved, the birds that usually swooped onto the broad back of little Simoneos to eat the juicy ticks from behind his ears were nowhere to be seen.

And then he heard them, a tiny speck of noise at first, a tweet like the first chick from the first spring nest. And then the singing grew gradually louder and louder until there seemed to be no more bees, no more monkeys nor elephants and the galloping sounds were drowned out by the loveliest of songs in the whole of Africa. "We will help if you will help *us*!" , they sang, over and over. Green birds, yellow birds, red birds, birds of all colours and sizes, some he knew by name and some by sight, some were strange and wonderful to him.

"What must I do? What must I do?", asked a very puzzled Simoneos. And the birds fell suddenly silent. The old and wise Strix, the shriek-owl came forward and cleared his throat, which sounded just like a noisy and painful shriek.

"Simoooooneos", he shrieked, "for many seasons yooooo have let the pretty birds rest behind your ears and eat the fat and juicy ticks behind them. We want to thank yooooo by making you a heroooo in the animal kingdom. We can help to cure the king but yooooo must help us and then yoooo will be thanked and rewarded".

Simoneos did not know what to say to all this, O best beloved. He loved the pretty birds who had sat on his back and neck and eaten the ticks. They were his friends. This was a big surprise to him, all this making him a hero. But if it meant that the king could be cured and the kingdom saved from the Evil One, then he would listen to what Old and Wise Strix had to say.

"Simoneos", he shrieked again, "yoooo must use your spade-like nooooose to fling the birds high, high, high into the air, further than they can get by just flying and then they can get closer and closer to the clouds. They can fan the clouds with their wings. The clouds will mooooove together and come closer to the ground and it will rain, rain, RAIN!!. The bulewo plant will spring up from the earth and grow leaves and the tea can be made for the king whooooo will then live! But you must hurry; the king cannot last another day and the Evil One has his plans all ready to take over the kingdom".

Simoneos was the most startled of all creatures. Could such a plan work? Had he the strength? He had to try for the safety of the kingdom!

So, o best beloved, the birds settled on his spade-like nose and Simoneos flung them right up into the air where they could not reach by simply flying. Three or four small ones went first, then two medium ones, then one large one, up, up into the air with a sweet song and a rush of air. More and more disappeared like tiny ants into the sky as the strong nose and neck of Simoneos sent the birds higher than they had ever gone before. And then at last only Old and Wise Strix was left.

Then the noise of singing stopped. A whirring noise like the winds in the north broke the silence and Simoneos realised that the birds were flapping their wings in one great dance in the sky, so high that you could only hear them. The earth turned dark and the sun seemed to disappear. Only huge dark clouds hung over the Savannah and everything turned very cold. Then the rains started, a little droplet at first, a small thud on the dusty ground. Then more joined in and more and more until the whole sky was a waterfall and the ground started to turn into a slimy lake.

As more and more rain fell, the slimy lake started to turn green with living plants that had been hidden in seeds under the cracked earth. They burst into life spreading their leaves and pushing their stems, growing as fast as the rain fell. The water ran away from the ground down the hills and gullies so that the lake was now a shallower pool. The monkeys gabbled loudly about the joy of the water to one another, the elephants sprayed each other joyfully and stomped about in the pools and large puddles. The birds returned and made as much noise as the sound of the water pouring from the sky.

"Sssssssimoneos!!!!" It was Bo, who had come down from the tree to celebrate the coming of the rains. "We mussst look for a bulewo tree!" Old and Wise Strix knew where there would be one, and sure enough, out of a crack, water gushed first and then a sleeping seed suddenly burst into the beautiful plant.

Bo squeezed some of the fresh leaves from the sapling and gave them to Simoneos. "Yoooo must take them to the king and they will make the tea that will cure him!", shrieked Strix.

Simoneos set off for the den of King Leo as fast as his legs would carry him. He charged through across the wet savannah and past the misty edge of the forest. Some of the smaller monkeys were startled and had to get out of the way very quickly to avoid his charge.

At last, and not a moment too soon, he reached the den of the King. The lion courtiers were still and resting sadly on their paws. Queen Leah was weeping silently and the King was breathing fast and with a rasping sound. He had lost much of his fine mane and his eyes were glassy and dull.

"Queen Leah, your majesty, I bring you these leaves from the bulewo tree to make the tea which will save the king's life", whispered Simoneos. The queen stopped her weeping and gave Simoneos a big lick with her enormous pink tongue. She made the tea as quickly as she could, and brought it to the lips of her dying husband. The bright, warm, green liquid dripped from a hollow coconut into the king's open mouth, and he drank. Even as he drank his mane began to grow, his eyes started to get brighter and a smile crept across his lips. In a few minutes, the miracle tea had cured the king and he sat up to speak to all those present.

"I AM HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!", he roared, and the courtiers trotted off to find him food.

"MY FRIEND SIMONEOS, TELL ME HOW THIS HAS HAPPENED, THAT YOU HAVE CURED ME WITH THIS TEEEEEEEEEEEEEA!", he roared again. Simoneos was a little frightened of the king, but he told his story and mentioned his good friends, Bo, Strix and all the birds, and how they had all helped.

"THIS DAY, THE EVIL ONE FELINIUS IS BANISHED FROM MY KINGDOMMMMMMMMM. THIS DAY THE BIRDS, THE SNAKES AND ALL THE SIMONEOS ARE MY FRIENDS, AND LIONS WILL NOT HURT THEMMMMMM. TO YOU, SIMONEOS, I GIVE SPECIAL THANKSSSS. YOU ARE A HERO AND I MUST REWARD YOOOOU. I GIVE YOU MY MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION, NEXT TO MY WIFFFFE.

IT IS A HUGE DIAMOND SO BRILLIANT THAT THE SUN LOOKS LIKE THE PALEST MOON COMPARED WITH ITTTTTT!"

The king presented Simoneos with the biggest diamond known in Africa. He put it onto his spade-like nose to carry it home but the diamond just stuck on the end there, like a unicorn's horn as if by magic. He found he could use it for all kinds of useful things because it was so hard, and the pretty birds could sit on it too. "We must give yoooou a neeeew name now", shrieked Strix. "We must call you Rhinoceros, Horn on your Nooose".

So it was, o best beloved, and more. It was so beautiful and bright that his eyes screwed up when he looked at the sun. And that is why Rhinos have such weak eyesight to this day. And if you ever see a Rhino charging, you must get right out of his way. He may be trying to save the King! And that is how the Rhinoceros got his horn.

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