Friday 22 November 2013
Jacob's flute
Jacob stood beneath the large tree, not too far from the waterhole, he raised the flute to his mouth and began to play.
As his fingers danced a blur along the exquisitely carved instrument, trilling notes wafted on the breeze. Beautiful notes, magical notes.
A large bull elephant walked slowly toward Jacob, stopping a few yards short of the tree, it's body began to sway, head twisting and turning from side to side in time with the music.
Soon a lion joined the elephant, then several zebras, hyenas, gazelles. A dozen or so vultures ceased their circling and settled to the ground close by.
Jacob continued playing, permeating the air with his beautiful tune, before long the whole plain was filled with every manner of creature, all moving as one, all swaying in time with the magical rhythm.
Heads bobbed and weaved in unison. Feet, claws, paws and hooves shuffled from side to side in perfect harmonious motion as the animals danced in smoothly flowing, undulating waves.
Thousands of eyes gazed at Jacob, transfixed, enchanted, enthralled.
On a branch high above Jacob, a leopard opened its eyes, yawned, stretched, then looked down, regarding Jacob with interest.
The leopard slowly made its way down the tree until it was on the branch directly above Jacob's head, the leopard stayed very still for a few moments, then leapt onto Jacob knocking him to the ground, with a single swipe of its claw it ripped his body from chin to groin.
The leopard sank its teeth deeply into Jacob's flesh, and began to eat greedily.
The dancing came to an abrupt halt. The animals looked around, as if unsure of where they were, or what to do.
“Okay guys!” Said the elephant. “That's it! The party's over! The deaf leopard has gone and spoiled it for everyone!”
©2013 Stephen. J. Green
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Ha! that last line is a killer! ^_^ Thanks for the laugh you had me fooled that this was going to be serious. ^_______^
ReplyDeleteHaha!! Glad it gave you a chuckle Helen. :-)
DeleteThat was a long build-up for a joke. :) I'm glad the piper got it. Those critters seemed too cheerful.
ReplyDeleteHi David, I actually heard this as a joke many years ago, but the version I heard involved a violin and two street gangs.
DeleteAhahaha! I am cracking up here Steve, this is hilarious, but poor Jacob!
ReplyDeleteSo glad it brought a giggle to your day Deanna. :-)
DeleteI think Jacob may be strutting his stuff on an exquisitely carved harp now.
wow, love it - poor Jacob, thanks for that chuckle. I guess there is always someone who spoils it for everyone, lol. A deaf leopard, did not see that coming.
ReplyDeleteThanks Claudia, glad you got a chuckle from it.
DeletePoor Jacob didn't see the deaf leopard coming either. Heheh!! :-)
Bwahahahaha... c'mon, a real deaf leopard (and now I have "Photograph" stuck in my head, thank you very much) would have noticed the vibrations from the dancing animals. This is a deaf and more importantly jerk leopard.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome buildup.
Thank you Katherine. You are definitely right there, the plain would have been bouncing with all those animals sequence dancing together.
DeleteGlad that it brought a touch of humour to your weekend. :-)
That was fun! At first I was thinking this would make a great children's story. Then...ummm...not so much. :0
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Li. :-)
DeleteI think possibly the ending could be tweaked to make it more suitable for children, instead of a deaf leopard, maybe a deaf monkey stealing the flute... Hmmmm.
Hilarious, Steve. At first I was thinking of The Lion King, just some big happy group of friendly animals. And then poor Jacob got ripped to shreds. Tough break for the musician.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, I like your comparison to The Lion King, I never thought of that.
DeleteI'm glad that the humour worked for you, I do like to use humour whenever I can, and it's a good feeling when it pays off.
Well, that's a headbanger of a different sort. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim, I hope it gave you a chuckle. :-)
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