Deception

It was a quiet and peaceful afternoon when the mouse received his invitation in the mail. "From: The Lion King," the mouse read. He went to his porch to read the invitation. "To: the mouse. Dear mouse, I am looking for help at my palace. In other words, I need a secretary. If you are interested in working for me, then please come tomorrow to my palace at 12:00. Thank you. Signed, The Lion King." "Well, if the Lion King asks for you personally, how could I refuse? I think I will go."

Half a mile away, a peacock sat on his nest reading his invite. "Wow," he said to no one in particular. "With my beauty and might, I'll have that job in no time!" He decided that he wanted this job.

Both peacock and the mouse went the next day. They bowed before the king, and then stood. "Welcome," the Lion King said to them. "Today we will see which of you are fit for my job. Please, follow me."

The Lion King showed them the room they would be taking the test in. "And who would like to go first?" "That would totally be me, kingly dude." stated the peacock proudly. "I know, like, everything in the world, so there's, like, no possibly way I can fail this." The king looked at the mouse with raised eyebrows, then said, "Toucan, please give him the test." The Toucan entered the testing room with the peacock, gave him the test, then left, quietly closing the door behind him.

The peacock burst out of the room a little while later with a look of triumph on his face. "I won, I won, how 'bout you just give me that job now? There's like no way that mouse can beat me!" The peacock marched into the waiting room and sat on a couch, barely missing the mouse who he almost sat on.

"Mouse, would you still like to go?" asked the Lion King. "Yes please sir." the mouse replied. "Toucan, please get the mouse a test." The toucan did so and the mouse started the test.

He exited a little while later to find the peacock sleeping on the couch. The mouse quickly woke him up just as the king entered the room. He collected the mouse's test, said thank you, and left. The mouse sat on the couch opposite the again sleeping peacock and gazed around the room. "This would really be a good job." he thought to himself.

Shortly after, the king returned and woke up the peacock. He asked that they follow him to his throne room. The peacock smirked in the mouse's face, stepping in front of him in the line behind the Lion King, almost stepping on him again.

The Lion King sat on his throne and the peacock and mouse stood in front of him. "Thank you both for participating. While I had high hope for the both of you, only one can have the job. I have presently decided who that will be." After a pause to add drama, the king stated, "Mouse.... You have got yourself a new job." All of the Lion Kings other workers and guards cheered and rushed in, picking up the mouse and carrying him to the king.

Suddenly the peacock spoke up,"How in the world did I lose? I, like, used the answer sheet!" At this, the entire assembly quieted down, until you could have heard a pin drop. The Lion King spoke up, "Yes, you did use my 'answer' sheet that I provided. I must say, that was how I knew that the mouse deserved the job." "What? How could you possibly have known that I used the answer sheet?! I like tore the thing to shreds when I was done!" No one in the room moved or spoke. If you had closed your eyes, it would have been like only the peacock and the king were there.

The mouse was confused; why would the peacock cheat on a 20 question test? They were all questions like, 'Do you know what a secretary is,' or, 'Do you like to help people?' That sort of thing. Just some really easy questions.

The Lion King was still talking to the peacock. "The 'answer' book in there was a fake. I was seeing if any of you would like to cheat. It certainly worked." The kings' eyes were glittering with laughter. "Goodbye peacock," he said."I hope you have learned your lesson."

And that was one lesson no one in the kingdom ever forgot.