Alex The Wild Short Story

Alex the lion lived in the jungle. He was big, strong and had a flowing mane. He also had the mightiest and loudest roar in the jungle, and one, which could be heard for miles around. Alex was indeed a splendid creature, but he was depressed and terribly unhappy. He suffered from a small problem that he was not able to solve. Alex had recurring bouts of hiccups.

It was a bad case, because it never left him. It followed him everywhere. It affected his hunting, stalking and even when he was relaxing. Alex was ready to try just about anything to cure his hiccups.

At first, Alex just ignored them, thinking that it would go away after a good night’s sleep. However, he was wrong. The moment he woke up the next morning and had something to drink, it

He was sobbing so hard between his hiccups, when Smarty the Jackal passed by and could not help wonder the reason for Alex’s sadness.

“What’s the problem, Alex?” asked Smarty.

Alex then narrated his tale of woe and Smarty the jackal started laughing so hard, that made Alex angry.

“You know, what your problem is Alex? You have hiccups because you don’t laugh enough,” said Smarty.

“How can I laugh, when there is nothing funny to laugh about?” quipped Alex.

“Well, there is always something funny to laugh about. For example, who has ever heard of a lion with hiccups?” said Smarty, and he started laughing.

Alex thought for a while and Smarty’s laughter was so infectious that he too could not help laughing.

He laughed so much that he was rolling in the ground with laughter.

Suddenly, Smarty said, “That was fun wasn’t it, and did you notice that your hiccups too have vanished?”

Alex got up with a start and realized that what Smarty said was correct. He waited for a minute and it did not reappear.

“I have got rid of the hiccups and began to laugh all over again,” he cried.

To this day, Alex did never have hiccups, although he laughs a little every day, just in case they might strike