Porcupine happily followed behind, at the back of the little group. He was very excited to be allowed on yet another adventure. He bristled, but it was not because he was angry. He wanted to make his quills stand out to show the Animals that he was brave and could protect the team.
They travelled like this for many days, with Jackal in the front to lead the way and Porcupine at the back to protect them from danger.
~~**~~
“Jackal,” said Ostrich after they had travelled for many days. “Where will we find this mountain that they call Kilimanjaro?” he asked.
“We will find the mountain just south of the Equator, Ostrich”, replied Jackal.
“Equator? What is this Equator, Jackal?” Ostrich wanted to know.
“It is the middle of the earth, Ostrich,” Monkey chirped. “We’ve been there before, when we travelled to the end of the Earth!”
“The middle of the Earth? That must be a very important place,” Ostrich sighed.
“There’s nothing to mark it, Ostrich. You could walk over it and not even know it.” Porcupine said. “Last time we crossed the Equator, we only realized it after many days.”
“But if this important place is not marked, how did you realize that you had crossed it?” insisted Ostrich.
Jackal responded: “Right now, we’re keeping the place where the sun gets up in the morning to our right. And we’re keeping the place where it goes to sleep in the evening to our left. Did you notice that, Ostrich?”
Ostrich looked to the right and to the left. When he looked up, he had to squint into the sun, as it was shining onto his face. Jackal saw him squinting into the sun.
“Yes, and once you have crossed the Equator, the place where the sun rises in the morning would still be on your right. And the place where it sets would still be on your left. But then the sun would shine from the back.”
“Yes, that was how we realized that we’d crossed it the last time,” Porcupine agreed.
“But we will not be crossing the Equator this time,” Jackal said. “We will remain on the bottom part of the Earth. The bottom part that they call South. We will find the mountain just a little bit south of the Equator. We must be careful that we do not go too far.”
And so they travelled for many more days. In the evenings the team huddled together. Porcupine did not huddle too close as Monkey did not want to get poked by Porcupine’s sharp quills.
~~**~~
One night Porcupine heard a strange sound.
“Plop!”
He jumped up and spread his quills, ready to attack any danger that might be creeping around their little group.
“Plop!” He heard it again.
“Who is there?” he shouted. He shouted so loudly that everyone woke up.
“What is happening?” Monkey shrieked.
“Stay down, Monkey!” ordered Porcupine. “I will protect you!” But his voice was a bit wobbly.
“Plop! Plop!” Now Porcupine could hear that it came from underneath the bush behind him. He turned around and charged into the bush, to find the danger. It was very dark, and before he realized it, he had charged right through the bush and out the other side.
“Plop!” came the sound again from underneath the bush. Porcupine spun around, to look for it. “Plop!” the sound came closer. “Plop!” even closer. Porcupine stepped back a bit. “Plop, plop,” came the sound.
Porcupine stepped back some more, trying to see what made this sound, so close to his face. Something jumped into his face. Porcupine shrieked and stepped back very quickly.
Then, suddenly, something grabbed him from behind!
~~**~~
“Help,” shouted Porcupine, “Something has caught me. Help, I cannot escape!”
Jackal jumped up. “Stay down, Monkey! I will go to help Porcupine.” Jackal did not need to order Ostrich to stay down. All the courage had drained from Ostrich’s head and he needed to keep his head down so that he would not faint.
“Be quick, Jackal!” shouted Porcupine. “I don’t know what had caught me. I cannot escape!”
Jackal charged around the bush with snarling lips and bared teeth, ready to free Porcupine from the dangerous clutches that had caught him.
Then Jackal saw it. He skidded to a stop.
“Help me, Jackal! Don’t just stand there!” shouted Porcupine. But Jackal just stood there, shaking his head.
Monkey got up to check what was going on. He ran around the bush as well. Then he stopped in his tracks and stared, his eyes very wide. He could not even shake his head.
Ostrich came to investigate. He still needed a bit more courage to flow to his head, so he kept his head low. He stopped next to Jackal and Monkey
Porcupine was frantic. “Help me! Help me! I cannot escape!” he cried…
~~**~~
Jackal, Monkey and Ostrich just stood there, staring at Porcupine. Then Jackal shook his head again and they all started to laugh. Jackal was roaring with laughter. Monkey was rolling around, holding his stomach. He could not stop laughing. Ostrich at first tried not to laugh, but then he couldn’t help himself. He also burst out laughing.
Eventually, Jackal wiped his eyes and said: “Porcupine, you are stuck to a tree! You forgot to smooth down your quills.” Then he laughed some more.
“You must have moved back too quickly and so your quills got stuck in the tree behind you!” Monkey reasoned.
Porcupine wriggled a bit and tried to move forward, but he couldn’t. He stretched out one of his back legs, to feel the tree behind him. Yes, he could feel it behind him, he was stuck to it! He was very embarrassed.
Ostrich felt bad that he had laughed at his friend, so he tried to make amends. “We’ll help you to get unstuck, Porcupine.”
But it was a difficult task. They could not push Porcupine from behind, as Porcupine could not smooth down his quills. The ones that were sticking into the tree were spread out, so the others could not be flattened. So the team pulled him from the front.
“One, two, three…pull!” they shouted and then they all pulled together. Some of the quills came lose, but some were stuck very deep into the tree.
“One, two, three…pull!” and after many attempts Porcupine was free. Porcupine lost many of his quills, which remained stuck in the tree.
“You must be more careful, Porcupine,” Jackal scolded. “You must not lose more of your quills. We may need them the next time there is danger.”
They tried to settle down for the rest of the night, but now everyone was hearing the sound.
“Plop…plop.” Eventually Jackal got up and sniffed around. Then he found what made the sound. From beneath the bush, where there was a small puddle of water, came a very small frog. The little frog was very scared, so Jackal allowed him to hop away safely.
~~**~~
Very early one morning Monkey woke the team up. “Look!” he shouted, “There is something in the distance! It looks like a big lump that was pushed from the Earth. It is very high!”
“Yes, yes, yes!” shouted Jackal. “That is the mountain that they call Kilimanjaro. That is the top of the Earth!”
The team stood in awe. In the distance they could see a very high mountain. It rose up high into the sky. On the top was a layer of white.
“That is the snow!” declared Jackal. The team was very excited. In no time at all they had reached the foot of the mountain. “Let us climb this mountain to find the fountain where the snow bubbles out from the Earth!” they said, and up they went.
The mountain was steep but the team was very eager to get to the top of the Earth, so they rushed along. The first day they travelled through thick rain forests. There were very big trees and strange plants that they’d never seen before. Monkey was swinging in the branches and jumped from tree to tree. You could hear him singing from very far away: “We’re on the top of the world…we’re on the top of the world…”
Eventually Jackal had to call Monkey back to the team so that he would not get lost
in the dense forest.
On the second day, Monkey had to walk with the team. The trees were smaller and far apart, so he could not jump from the one to the other. Ostrich was falling behind and he called: “Wait for me, wait for me!” Jackal told Ostrich to hurry up, but Ostrich couldn’t move any faster. He struggled to get enough air into his lungs to make his legs work properly. So the team slowed down so that Ostrich would not fall behind.
Jackal woke them up on the third morning: “We have to climb up a steep cliff today. We have to start early!”
The team looked up towards the top of the mountain and there was the very steep cliff that Jackal spoke about. There was a narrow ledge on the side of the cliff that they would need to follow. The narrow ledge went up and up and up as far as they could see! On the one side of the ledge were big rocks. On the other side of the narrow ledge there was nothing! Just a steep drop to the bottom far below!
Ostrich hung his head very low as he needed more courage in his head.
Monkey skipped ahead and ran up the narrow ledge with Jackal on his heels. They were very far ahead when they heard Porcupine calling: “Come back Jackal! We have a problem!”
They found Ostrich and Porcupine at the very beginning where the ledge was very narrow.
“What is the problem?” asked Monkey.
“It is Ostrich!” shouted Porcupine. He was very annoyed. “He is just standing there with his head hanging low. He does not want to move!” Everybody looked at Ostrich and he almost fainted.
“What is the problem, Ostrich?” Jackal asked. Ostrich swallowed a lump in his throat, so that he would not cry. He struggled to get enough air into his lungs so that he could speak.
“I a-am s-scared of heights,” he managed to croak after some time.
“What!?” shrieked Monkey. “You are a bird, Ostrich. Birds are not scared of heights!” But Ostrich shook his head sadly.
“But I am not a bird that can fly, Monkey. I am scared of heights! I cannot climb up this narrow ledge. I will faint! I am very scared!”
Then Jackal went up the ledge again. He looked down from the top of the cliff, to see if he could find another route. But he could not find one.
“I could not find another route, Ostrich,” he said. “You will have to climb up this narrow ledge.”
Ostrich shut his eyes tight and he hung his head low. He took a couple of deep breaths, to fill his lungs with enough air to get his legs to work. Then he opened his eyes, he lifted his head and he said: “I will not give up. I have given my word. I will finish this mission.”
Ostrich looked up to the top of the mountain. Then he looked at the narrow path that he would have to follow. Then he said: “Lead the way, Jackal.”
So the team set off again. Jackal and Monkey walked slowly, so that Ostrich would always have someone ahead of him. Porcupine followed at the back, so that Ostrich would always have someone behind him. Up and up and up they went on the narrow ledge. Ostrich kept his face towards the rocks, so that he would not see the very steep gorge that fell away into the valley behind him.
Sometimes he would close his eyes, and he would ask Monkey to lead him. Sometimes he would hang his head to allow for some courage to flow to his head. Often he had to swallow the very big lump in his throat so that he would not cry.
It took a very long time to get Ostrich up and over the cliff. That night everyone was very, very tired.
~~**~~
“This is a strange place,” Porcupine announced. It was early morning and Sun was slowly waking up. “This is how I always imagined it looked like on the moon!”
The others looked around them. There were rocks and boulders everywhere. But there were almost no plants, not even grass. The Earth was bare and it was very cold.
The team walked along the moonscape for all of that day. That evening they all huddled close. Ostrich allowed Monkey to crawl in under one of his wings, to keep him warm. Porcupine’s quills clattered as the cold shivers ran through his little body.
“Turn around, Porcupine,” Ostrich suggested. “Push your little feet in under my wing, so that they can be warm.” Porcupine turned around so that his quills would not poke his friends. Then Ostrich covered his cold little feet with one of his wings and they all tried to get some sleep.
~~**~~
“Achoo…achoo!” Monkey sneezed. Everybody woke up, but Sun was a bit slow. The team sat and looked down the mountain.
At first it was very dark. Then, in the middle, between the dark of the sky above, and the dark of the Earth below, a streak of bright orange sliced through the night. Sun’s first rays had crept over the horizon. It was very beautiful.
“Achoo..!” Monkey sneezed again.
“What is the problem?” Jackal asked.
“It is Ostrich’s feathers,” he said. “I am allergic to feathers.”
It was not very long before Sun was fully awake. Jackal trotted off into the distance. The rest of the team watched while he sniffed the air and cocked his ears to listen to the wind. He sniffed the air some more.
“I smell water in the air,” he said. Everyone looked around, but they could not see anything. They looked up to the top of Kilimanjaro.
“Look at that!” shouted Monkey. They could now clearly see the white blanket of snow at the top of the mountain. “It is not far to go!”
So they set off quickly and very soon they came to the edge of the blanket of snow. They stood at the edge and looked at it. Monkey was the first to touch. He poked a finger in the blanket. It was very cold. Then he touched it with his hand. It was soft. He put both hands into the snow. Then he gathered the snow into a ball and lifted it for the others to see. Jackal poked his nose into the snow.
“This smells like water.” Jackal ran onto the blanket of snow. Monkey made another ball of snow and he threw it at Ostrich. It landed on top of Ostrich, on his back, where it melted.
“Ooh! This is cold!” shouted Ostrich. And before Porcupine knew what was happening, Monkey had pelted him with yet another snowball. The team ran around in the snow and played until they were tired. They were also very wet because of the snowballs that Monkey kept throwing at them.
Eventually Porcupine cried out: “My feet are very cold!” He went to perch on a rock at the edge of the snow. Jackal did the same as his feet were also very cold. Monkey put his hands under one of Ostrich’s wings to warm it up.
“We are almost at the top,” Ostrich said. “Let us go to find the fountain where the snow bubbles out.”
“Our feet are too cold!” cried Porcupine. “We will freeze all over.” Jackal and Monkey agreed with him.
“But we have to finish this mission. We have to go to the top to roll a rock onto the fountain!” Ostrich stated and started walking towards the top of the mountain. But the others did not follow him. He turned around and shouted: “I have to do what I said I’d do! I have to finish this mission!”
“My paws are too cold, Ostrich,” Jackal said. “I simply cannot walk on this snow. I will freeze all over.” Ostrich hung his head low for a while.
“Monkey, you must come with me,” he said. “I will carry you on my back, so that your little feet do not freeze.” When Monkey still hesitated, he pleaded. “Please, Monkey. I cannot roll the rock onto the fountain by myself.”
So Monkey got onto Ostrich’s back. He tucked a leg in under each of Ostrich’s wings and he put his arms around Ostrich’s neck so that he would not slip off.
“Achoo..,” sneezed Monkey.
“You have to sit still, Monkey,” Ostrich pleaded. “I am very tired. I cannot get enough air into my lungs to make my legs work properly.”
“Achoo… I cannot help it, Ostrich! It is your feathers. I am allergic to feathers!” cried Monkey.
Very slowly, Ostrich made his way to the top, while Monkey clung on to him, trying not to slip off. Ostrich often had to stop, to rest and to get more air into his lungs. Once, when Monkey sneezed again, Ostrich stumbled and had to sit down for a while. Then he strug
gled back to his feet and carried on, with Monkey clinging on.
Jackal and Porcupine found a boulder that was big enough to protect them from the wind. They would wait for Ostrich and Monkey to return.
~~**~~
“What is this?” asked Monkey suddenly. “It’s raining white fluff!”
At first Ostrich didn’t know what Monkey was talking about. Then he saw it too. Little bits of white fluff were falling from the sky, like rain does. Monkey held out his hand, so that the white fluff would fall onto his hand. But before he got a good look at it, the fluff became water. “This is very strange,” said Monkey.
Suddenly Ostrich came to a stop.
“We are at the top!” he cried. “Look Monkey, we are at the top of the Earth!” And yes, Monkey could see that they were at the top of the Earth. There was nowhere higher to go. They looked around them in wonder.
Then Monkey asked: “Where is the fountain where the snow bubbles out of the Earth? I cannot see it.” They looked around again. Everywhere they could see the blanket of snow. At places the blanket was very thick and hard. But they couldn’t find the fountain.
“Look! It is raining more white fluff!” There was enough fluff now so that Monkey could get a good look at it. Then, when he had enough fluff in both of his hands, he rolled it into a ball. He jumped off Ostrich’s back, to stand on the blanket of snow. He put the ball of fluff onto the blanket of snow. Then he scooped two handfuls from the blanket of snow, and rolled that into a ball as well. He put it next to the ball of fluff.
“Look, Ostrich!” he cried excitedly. “It looks exactly the same!” Ostrich stood closer. With one foot, he carefully rolled first the ball of fluff. Then he rolled the ball of snow. “It feels the same,” he said. “Does it taste the same?” he wondered.
Monkey took a bite from the ball of fluff. It melted in his mouth. It tasted like water. Then he took a bite from the ball of snow. It also melted in his mouth and tasted like water.