The Clean Up

It was summertime and everyday bus loads of people were coming to spend the day in the forest. In spite of all the signs outlining the rules, there were papers strewn all over the place, empty plastic water bottles left under the trees, and left-over food was thrown around for the animals to eat. Every animal that lived in the forest was tired of the mess.They brought their displeasure in writing to the Lion. The Lion called the Crows and said: “Tell everybody that at five o’clock tomorrow, there will be an urgent meeting in the great opening of the forest.

The next day, during the meeting, the Lion specified the duty roster for all the animals in the forest. The Porcupine would pick up paper garbage with his thorny spikes and the Kangaroo would carry it in his pouch to the garbage bin. While the Racoons were cleaning left-over and thrown food, the Monkeys would collect the empty bottles. The Giraffes were going to prune the long branches hanging from the trees blocking the passage ways. The Lion asked the Elephants, Rhinos and the Zebras to graze and trim the tall grass. The Ostrich and the Rabbit were in charge of rapid emergency response duty and the Ducks and the Deers were in charge of all baby-sitting duties.

An elder Wolf then asked: “Why do the humans not heed the rules and warnings?” And the Lion replied: “When you look, you have to see, and seeing is never enough. You also have to understand what you see and for that you need education”. And everybody agreed and dispersed into the forest.

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