Reginald was an
angry rhinoceros.
No one knew why he was angry. He
just was.
Some rhinos are like that.
Some people are like that too.
Reginald’s anger and generally bad mood
quickly spread to all of the animals
in the woodlands, marshes, grasslands,
savannas, mud wallows, and shade trees.
Reginald, who would rather go by
“Redge,”
thank you, was constantly angered by the
tiniest thing.
Redge was a vegetarian.
He never
ate meat.
He only ate leaves, buds and
shoots of plants, bushes and
trees. He was especially fond of Acacia tree leaves.
One day Redge was having lunch at
Jasmine the Jackal’s place.
They were laughing and having a good time
until she brought in a plate of spaghetti …
and MEAT balls! This made
Redge angry at Jasmine because she
should have remembered that he never ate
meat.
He stomped and snorted and pouted and
screamed; he screeched and squealed
and yawped! “Everyone knows Jackals
don’t think of anyone but themselves!
Bellowing tick birds,
Jasmine!” and charged out the door.
Jasmine was stunned at his language and
cried for two hours.
Later that day, Redge was drinking water
at a nearby stream when he heard banjo music.
“That can’t be good,” he
said. Coming toward him on a bicycle was Quentin,
a vervet monkey, riding
hands-free and playing a banjo. “Hey Redge!” he waved.
Redge tried to be nice. “Do you
want one of my jam sandwiches?” “Sure!” Quentin said.
He couldn’t
believe Redge was being so pleasant.
They sat by the stream and the
monkey talked and talked and talked.
“Thanks for the sandwich!” Quentin
said before tossed his banjo over his shoulders
and got back on his
bicycle. But as he was about to ride off, Redge thought he saw several
of
the jam sandwiches in Quentin’s basket. This made him mad.
Redge stomped and snorted and pouted and
screamed; he screeched and squealed
and yawped! “Everyone knows vervet
monkeys steal things!
Sweaty, hairless hippos, Quentin!” and
charged away.
Quentin was hurt by his Redge’s words …
and he rode home very sad.
Redge went to his favourite Acacia tree
to sit under it, chew on its leaves, and pout …
but when he arrived, he was
surprised to see two giraffes had already eaten
almost all of his leaves!
This made Redge really mad.
He stomped and snorted and pouted and
screamed; he screeched and squealed
and yawped! “Everyone knows giraffes are
stupid and don’t take baths!
Hump muzzled wildebeests!” and charged
away.
The giraffes were shocked at his
language, but went back to chewing their leaves.
Redge was walking and pouting when he
smelled something terrible.
Then he looked around. He had walked
right into a pack of hyenas.
As he slowly backed away he backed right
into a very odd looking hyena with a frying pan
on his head. “Ow!”
said the hyena. “You stepped on my foot!” Redge was scared.
But the hyena only stuck out a paw and
laughed. “That’s all right, friend. Call me Hershey.”
Redge
gingerly shook his paw. “I didn’t catch your name, chum,” asked
Hershey.
Redge took a deep breath. “My name is … is …
Reginald.” There was silence.
A long silence.
Then one hyena started to giggle.
And another.
And another.
And forty-two. “Reginald!”
“That’s brilliant!” “It’s fantastic!” “What a funny name for a
rhino!”
The hyenas laugh was so contagious that
Hershey, who was trying to contain himself,
burst out into an uncontrollable
laugh. And Redge got angry. Very angry.
Redge stomped and snorted and pouted and
screamed; he screeched and squealed and
yawped! But the hyenas laughed
harder. “Oh my,” said Redge, “It IS a funny name…”
Yes, he stomped and snorted and pouted
and screamed;
he screeched and squealed and yawped! Thinking he was
putting on a show,
the hyenas laughed even harder than before.
So he stomped and snorted and pouted and
screamed; he screeched and squealed and … and …
… giggled. The hyenas’ cackles
were so funny that Redge just could not stop his own
laughter.
Hershey finally caught his breath, “I’m
sorry, Redge. “We’re hyenas. It’s what we do.
Laughter is an
instant vacation! When you laugh, everyone is cheerful and relaxed.
It makes you think a lot less of your problems … and it sure feels better than
being mad.”
Redge couldn’t believe it. It DID feel better! So
instead …
He chuckled
and giggled and snickered and hooted and chortled and gasped and wheezed!
Then Hershey chuckled and giggled and
snickered and hooted and chortled and
gasped and wheezed!
Redge and the hyenas laughed on into the
night and well into the next morning.
Once Redge laughed so hard he fell
down and rolled on his back and almost
squashed poor Hershey, who had never
seen a rhino laugh that much …
which made him laugh even harder.
They passed Quentin the Vervet Monkey,
who was up in his tree, sadly playing his banjo.
Then Redge noticed that
what he saw in Quentin’s basket were not sandwiches at all,
but blocks of
Quentin’s favourite cheese! So he apologized, left all of his
jam sandwiches
with Quentin’s family, and decided he needed to get his eyes checked.
When they passed the grazing giraffes,
they shared some leaves from the Acacia tree.
Even Jasmine the Jackal couldn’t help
her laughter when Redge showed up
at her door offering her a bouquet of Acacia
leaves with a hyena on his shoulders!
Reginald’s new laughter and generally
good mood quickly spread to all
of the animals in the woodlands, marshes,
grasslands, savannas, mud wallows,
and shade trees.
Reginald was a happy
rhino. No one knew why he was happy; he just was.
Some rhinos are
like that. Especially Reginald. Some people are like that too.
