Once upon a time, the King of Uganda wanted to make a Zoo. He called all his ministers and ordered them to bring different kinds of animals from the forests and swamps. Then, in a beautiful garden he kept the animals in the cages. People from all over the country came to see them. But, the animals were very unhappy. Each and every moment, they thought of their homes. Animals like to hunt for themselves and eat. But, here, they were served food which they hated. No one felt sorry for them except the King’s dwarf. He had lived in the forest and knew the language of animals. One day, while taking a round in the zoo, the King asked the dwarf, “Am I not a great King? No King has ever made a Zoo like this before, in which all the different animals of the country are brought together at one place.”
The Fairy Foxes
The dwarf did not agree with the King. All the animals were not there in the zoo. There was one animal that lived in the Mukono Forest which no minister had brought. No one had ever seen that animal, though people had heard him crying all night. Some people said it was a bat, and some said it was a sloth. There were many who believed it to be a fairy fox with wings made of the night mists. When the King heard this, he said that he would not be beaten by any animal. He would himself go to Mukono and fetch that fairy animal. He called Sekibobo, the chief and asked him to build a huge encampment near the forest. The work was finished after a few days. Then, the King and his whole court went to Mukono. For three months, the King lived in the encampment.
The King went to the forest every night. The whole night, he heard the fairy foxes crying but he never saw any. At times, he felt that the sound came from the ground below his feet. But when he looked, there was nothing. Once, he felt that there was something whirling above his head and making a noise but he could not see anything. Finally, he decided to return to the palace. As he sat sadly, the dwarf asked him, “Why are you so sad?” The King replied that he was feeling sorry as he could not get the fairy fox for his zoo. At the same time, the King had started loving the forests, the trees, the shady paths and the water bodies. The moon nights had never been so lovely in the city as they were in the forest. He wanted to return to the forest.
Then the dwarf said, “In three months you are so attached to the forest that you feel sad leaving it. Just think about those animals. It was their home. They are now living in the zoo as prisoners.” On hearing this, the King was silent and thought for a while. Thereafter, he called Sekibobo and asked him to send a messenger to the capital immediately and tell the Katikiro (Prime Minister) to release all the animals in the Zoo and send them to their homes. The King did not want any more prisoners. At present, there is a broad road which goes from Kampala to Jinja and passes quite near to the Mukono Forest. Anyone who passes through that road hears the fairy fox crying in the forest all night. But no one has ever seen the fairy fox.
