Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-squirrel-on-orange-umbrella-FnzQiImsoYM
A time came in the life of animals when they decided to unite, the terrestrial animals a.k.a land animals, and the arboreal animals a.k.a sky animals (or sky dwellers), under one kingdom.
During the meeting to select the king, Eagle, the king of the birds, on behalf of the sky dwellers suggested the king was supposed to come from among them.
"The birds are up there in the sky, above every other living thing. And so, being on top, they should be the head as nature has designed", he argued.
The land animals didn't agree with this submission. On their behalf, Lion, the king of the jungle, argued, "The king is supposed to come from among us. This is so because we are on the ground, and own the land. By implication, the owners of the land are the owners of the earth".
The arguments and counter arguments went on and on without agreement. It began to tend towards harsh words and anger.
At this juncture, Bat rose to his feet, and started, "It's obvious that neither the typical sky dweller nor land dweller is suitable for the throne".
He paused briefly, looked around, and continued. "I'm the most suitable, in fact, unarguably, the right choice. I'm both in the sky and on land with both my wings and four limbs, respectively".
The countenance of mamy of the animals appeared to show that Bat's point of view was superior to others. And by that, Bat was accepted as king.
A befitting palace was built for the new king in a special part of the forest. Following the completion of the palace, a coronation ceremony was organized where Bat was crowned king of all.
A lot of benefits were attached to the office of the majesty, king Bat. Foremost, he stopped hunting for food because food of different kinds were presented to him on daily basis by other animals. Servants were assigned to the palace that served the king.
Now, Bat planted two secret agents, Raven, a sky dweller, and Rabbit, a land animal. It was his tactics of monitoring what was happening in both camps. It happened that, when he heard any secret of the sky dwellers from Raven, he passed it to Rabbit, and vice versa.
This made the two animal groups to be suspicious of each other because, each group thought the other was spying on her. This led to the development of a bad blood between the two.
"How come the other group appears to know our next move?" They asked themselves, without an answer.
Somehow, the secret relationship of King Bat and the other two animals, Raven and Rabbit, came to light. Then, an emergency meeting was summoned by Lion, representing the land animals, and Eagle, for the sky dwellers. The agenda was to discuss the allegation against the king.
The animals had a law which stated: "Anyone that causes quarrel, or friction to develop between the land animals and sky dwellers has committed an offence, punishable by death."
In the meeting, the evidence against the king was overwhelming and judgment was easy to be pronounced.
"King Bat has run foul of the law and as such ceases to be the king forthwith. He is now a common criminal, and has to be executed", Lion declared with Eagle standing by his side.
Hearing that, and knowing his game was over, Bat flew up to the sky, running away. The birds chased him to catch him. He flew down, the land animals hotly chased him.
With his life in danger, he looked up and down. Where else would he run to? He managed to run to a nearby Iroko tree and slipped into the hole in its trunk.
"Please, save me. Let me hide here for my life", he pleaded.
"On one condition", Iroko said . "I don't tolerate noises, especially during the daytime when I'm carrying out my photosynthetic activity."
"I accept any condition". Bat replied in desperation.
Iroko allowed the deposed king to hide in her trunk. The animals went away but, declared Bat wanted, dead or alive, for him to face the law anytime he was caught.
Bat remained hiding in the Iroko trunk. In the night, he will sneak out to go and look for food, and before the morning light, before anyone could see him, will run back to the Iroko trunk.
Anytime he reflected on his good old days, as the king in his palace, with servants, he will sob in agony. If his voice was raised, Iroko will threaten to drive him away, reminding him of their agreement. He will have no option than to beg for forgiveness but, kept remembering his past with nostalgia.