The Meeting at the Old Fort

The animals came in their droves. A meeting at the clearing near the Old Fort was no ordinary event in the affairs of the Jungle Kingdom. Juno the Jackal was among the first to arrive. He had wrapped an old scarf round his neck and had worn the old tweed coat that he had inherited from his late father. A few moments later Henry the Hyena drove in with a swirl of dust raised by the wheels of the convoy of cars and SUVs which accompanied him. Henry the Hyena believed that the ruling class did not take the canine species very seriously and so raised the bogey of "backward" animals and was agitating for a certain fixed number of seats from the non-clawe, non-woofed denizens of the forest. Juno the Jackal found the politics of Henry extremely divisive, but there was little that he could do as Henry the Hyena could whip up the passions of his ilk.

A little later Karadi the Bear, the prime Minister of the Jungle Kingdom arrived o his old moto cycle, an army surplus vehile that karadi's uncle had once presented him. He did not ask for the use of a car and escorts as Karadi believed that his position was one of service and not of power and pelf. He stll lived in the old cave by the river and did not allow the Defence Minister of the Jungle Kingdom to post security guards saying that if he could not feel secure in his position he had no right to be the Prime Minister. Karadi had rather old fashioned views and he greatly admired Juno the Jackal.