Once upon a time, in a tropical island not far from here, there lived an old wolf called Ukoi who had more bark than bite. The wolf knew that he was getting on in years, but he also realized that there is still some influence left in his breed.
So he gathered all the animals and persuaded them to elect him as their leader, since he had the power to scare away hunters from neighboring islands. To enjoy his protection, they must kill some of their own kind to feed him. Being a good leader, he always insisted that his food didn’t come from within the group. Naturally, this created a big following for him.
One day, a squirrel called Rhaj, who only wanted to be left alone, got tired of being chase about the canopies just because he was not part of Ukoi's group of supporters. He gathered his acquaintances to air his complaints. The first meeting was a huge success: He learnt that he was not the only one who had problems with Ukoi's band of leader-pleasers.
Night after night the rodents and doves came, getting rowdier each time, until finally they held an election to vote for Rhaj as the club's president. The rat secretary, Cit, tried to register the club but his application was denied. Regardless, more and more tiny animals came in to listen to Rhaj which had the effect of making him bolder with his words.
"Ukoi has no power over us. We are the power. We can get rid of him. Why choose a predator to devour us at will, if we can have a plant-eating Orang Utan as our island President? Why must we choose to sacrifice our own kind for the sake of one leader, if we have the right to choose a leader who requires no such sacrifice? All our sufferings are due to our own complacency. Don’t just hide in a hole, come out and state your mind."
A bird chirped, "But it does not matter if he is the President or not, he will still eat us."
"Yes, that is true," Rhaj said, "but in his natural, solitary state he will have to hunt us by himself. He can’t climb trees, burrow into tight holes or fly aboveground. That means we can run from him and save ourselves. But right now, he is using squirrels to hunt a squirrel and birds to hunt a bird. We can’t run from our own kind as well as we can run from him."
A murmur frothed from the crowd, and the word ‘unfair’ popped up here and there like bubbles. Cit stayed until the last person left. When he reached home, he found that his mother had waited up for him. As they nibbled grass seeds together, he told her everything he heard and saw that night.
Right before cuddling into his nest he said, "Father and brother should leave Ukoi. There is no honor in serving that old fart."
Morning came dewy clear. Running along the branches, Cit reached Rhaj’s hole with a loud thump on the trunk and jumped inside with a flourish. The smile on his face waned: The place was in shambles. Scratched strands of wood fiber hung down the wall. Patches of sleeping material covered a urine soaked floor and Rhaj’s store of food was gone.
Cit trembled. The scent of a hundred animals surrounded him like a fog. He raced back the way he came, knocking other rats out of his way as he searched for his father in the community hole.
"I can’t help you," the elder rat said. "I am not about to put this community in danger for helping a squirrel."
"But father, we can vote for a new leader. Rhaj says so."
"Oh really. Let me explain something to you. A voting system by the masses came from the philosophy of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is based on the human ideal that the best action is the one that will produce the most happiness and least pain in the greatest number of people." He paused to study Cit’s face. "I have seen and experienced Ukoi’s power over the other animals. What do you think is the recourse I should take? Do you think it is in the best interest of this community for me to recommend that we support a new, untested leader?"
Cit stared into his father’s pleading eyes. Then the younger rat turned away and crept outside into the shadow of a bamboo patch where he sat and stared unseeing at his feet.
Read more fable-styled articles.