The Art of Dissemination

The wolf pounced. Owl struggled and hooted, but his efforts only managed to send his feathers flying about. Wolf growled, "Be still. I am not going to eat you. I want to talk." Nevertheless, he did not let the bird go.

Owl tried not to tremble and in a voice that sounded braver than what he felt inside, he asked, "What do you want from me?"

"I heard a rumor that Fox is selling this jungle to the vultures."

"That is not true. Fox is only selling the debts we owe the hill-side goats."

"Do you take me for an idiot? I know what happens to animals that owe the vultures money. First they are asked to pay with seeds, then they will be required to give up their dead and finally live animals will be murdered just so the jungle can keep up with the payment of interest."

"What good is all this information now? Nobody wants to listen to sense."

"Impeach President Fox."

"What? I cannot do that!"

Wolf released him. "Yes, you can. You have enough information about him to make this work."

"But there will be a riot."

"A riot is better than feeding the vultures. Impeach him"

Wolf stalked away. Owl watched his silhouette until it disappeared into the shadows of the jungle before flying back to the barn.

An anxious Squirrel waited for him, tail puffed up and flapping up and down like the tail feathers of a magpie trying to balance itself on a exposed twig during a windy day. "Are you all right Owl? Are you all right? Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes and yes. Please settle down. I just had a bad scare and your discomfiture is not helping at all."

Squirrel hunched down on all fours, though his hind legs were ready to sprint away at a moments notice "I thought that you were gone for good. I didn't realize that it was you walking across the field, else I would have called out when I saw the wolf."

"You could have called out even if it was not me."

"But then the wolf might come here and eat me."

Owl released a long hoo sigh then settled in his warm nest. "Wolf wants us to impeach President Fox."

"But that is impossible. Nobody should impeach a president. There will be chaos."

"That is a very plausible scenario, but our law does allow us to do it."

"But what about the riots and unrest that it will create?"

"Well, either we go through a period of anarchy or we end up as bonds-animals to the vultures. Which would you prefer?"

"The President might have negotiated favorable terms for us....."

"..or only for himself," Owl completed the thought.

The two animals talked, thought, and dozed over their options thrice that night, until finally when dawn broke through the horizon Owl agreed to try Squirrel's idea, which was to scratch an anonymous message on a few strategic trees. Hopefully other critters will see them and post out their own opinions on more trees. That should create a buzz serious enough for the jungle to demand that the canine police launch an investigation into the accusations.

That night, the birds heard strange scrapping, but did not look. The rats felt wood flakes rain down on their nest, but decided that it was not their problem. In the morning a pulsating tide of creatures collected under five trees and in their branches to gawk at the messages etched on the trunk surfaces.

News soon reached Rat and he promptly informed Fox, who sent out an army of woodpeckers to destroy the messages. However, they were too late to stop the hounds from baying these words from one corner of the jungle to the other. Soon it was picked up by the rodents and birds who put up personal opinions in hidden places. Fox rounded up the hounds and sent them to enclosures where muzzle-guards were strapped over their faces to quiet them. Yet the woodpeckers continued to find community notes on twigs, leaves, abandoned nest-holes and branches.

In a desperate bid to clear his name, Fox ordered all the animal representatives to collect for a meeting. The jungle came, and leading them was Wolf.

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