There came a time when only one Unicorn remained in the world. The last of her kind, aged and tired, she wore the crown and governed the animal kingdom as had her fathers and mothers before her.

And then there came a day when there were no Unicorns at all. The last of them died, leaving heavy hearts, an empty throne, and an empty crown.

So, the animals of the world Assembled, as they always did, around the Great Tree at the center of the world. Beneath it's green spreading branches they came together in a Great Truce, the private wars and the struggle between predator and prey laid aside so they might sort out this tragedy.

"Who shall be out new king?" cried a voice from the assembly. "Yes," called another, "who shall lead us?" "Who can take the Unicorn's place?" More and more voices raised the question until uncountable hordes of beasts were asking the same question. "Who? Who shall be our ruler?"

Amidst the noise, Lion stepped into the clearing around the Tree. "I," he roared above the din, "I shall be your new king. I am the mightiest hunter on the plains, and my mane is the most magnificent feature of us all."

"Hold, cried Fox. "You may be strong, but a king must be wise and clever to rule to mighty a nation. I shall be our new king."

"Sheer strength should count," rumbled the Elephant, shouldering his way to the fore.

"Desire to work is more important," piped a tiny voice, and an ant ran up the bark of the Tree. "An ant should be our queen."

"No!" barked a voice from the crowd. "A dog."

"A bee!"

"Eagle!"

"Rooster!"

One after another, each animal shouted out why it was the best suited to rule them all. Some creatures began to argue, and it seem the uneasy Truce might fall apart. At last Elephant could stand no more. He gave a long, loud trumpet call that spread over the Assembly and brought them to a hush.

"Enough!" he said in his deep, deep voice. "Friend Owl has a reputation for being very wise, and for wishing to be left alone. Owl will not want to be queen, but may have good counsel for us all. Friend Owl, what say you?"

Owl had spent the night before the Great Truce catching mice for her chicks, and had been napping through the Great Assembly. Elephant was right. Owl cared nothing for who was king or queen; owl wanted to go home, to mind her own business, and for everyone else do the same. Owl was truly the wisest of them all. She decided this question was a way to shut everyone up, and to hurry them home.

"Our tales tell us that Unicorn wore the Crown of Animals for as long as we can remember," answered sleepy old Owl. "Everyone who wishes to be king should try on the crown. If it fits, you're king." She shuffled on the branch and closed her eyes.

"An excellent idea," rumbled Elephant, and snatched up the crown. Naturally it slid off his huge head. The lion grabbed it and tried it on, but it would not stay balanced on his proud, bushy mane. It covered the eyes and rested on the nose of the fox, slid over the head and shoulders of all the birds, and of course none of the insects had the slightest chance.

"Bah!" squawked the Eagle, stepping out of the crown and kicking it aside. "This is ridiculous. Maybe the crown should belong to the one who can take it and keep it." These sounded like fighting words to many of the animals, and the mood of the crowd began to get ugly again.

Meanwhile, Monkey, bored by all the talk, had run to the Tree and climbed up in it. As the animals argued, he swung from a branch. While they threatened each other, he scratched himself, and made funny faces. When Eagle kicked the crown away, he snatched it up and tried to juggle it. Some of the animals began to laugh.

More animals, also bored, watched Monkey's antics. He tossed the crown from hand to hand, and then from foot to foot. He put it over his head, but it was too big and fell down to his waist, so he did a little hula dance and made the crown spin around him. More animals forgot their arguments, more began to watch, and more began to laugh.

Now that he had an audience, monkey began to shined. He cut more capers, danced more jigs, acted more of a fool than ever before, and as he did, more and more of the animals watched. When he stood on his hands and balanced the unicorn's crown on his feet, one of the crowd called out, "Look! It's King Monkey!"

"King Monkey!" called another. And then another. And another, and another, and another, until all around the Great Tree there were animals bleating and mooing and cawing and crowing and tweeting and barking "King Monkey! King Monkey! King Monkey!" And the more they said it, the more they believed it. And so it happened - because the animals were bored, or scared, or uninterested, and because he was popular and made them forget their troubles - Monkey became king of them all.

And things were fine in the kingdom that day. (Well, everyone got to go home!) But when the next day came Ant and Moth to the Great Tree to speak to King Monkey.

"Ant is digging up all the earth to make his silly little holes," complained Moth. "It hurts the roots of the best flowers."

"We must make our homes, your majesty," squeaked Ant in defence. "There are many other flowers in the field. Moth could stay away from the ones where we live Besides, she's weird. She comes out at night."

"But they're the best flowers," fluttered Moth. "And night time is the right time to visit them."

The two waited for Monkey to settle their case, just as King Unicorn had always done. Instead, Monkey did a little dance on a tree limb, and spun the crown on one finger.

While they waited, up flew Eagle and Hawk. "Your majesty," said Eagle, ignoring the waiting Ant and Moth, "this insolent Hawk has hunted in what is clearly my territory. You must tell him to leave off at once."

"I'll not do it," screached Hawk. "Eagle claims everywhere as 'his territory'. We Hawks have hunted those fields for generations, and always with the blessing of the King."

"Ah, but there's a new king, now," Eagle reminded Hawk. "You must get permission from the new ruler. Is that not true, Sire?"

Instead of answering, Monkey turned a somersault and spun the crown on one toe.

While they all waited for better answers, Elephant and Lion walked up with a dispute over a water hole. Then came two song birds arguing over which had the sweetest song. Snake and Lizard debated which was better - legs or no legs? And no one really knew what Cow wanted - she took so long to tell her tale.

Monkey the King, meanwhile, chattered silly songs from the treetop, made faces at the crowd, juggled the crown and a couple of apples, and did nothing to help. Throughout the day there came more and more animals with problems, animals with arguments, animals who'd lost things or were sick or needed help. They crowded around the Great Tree and tried to present their cases, just as they'd always done. Only now, instead of good advice, the King gave them meaningless chatter, and what he thought they wanted to see.

Night came, and so did the night time animals - frogs and owls and mice and crickets and bats - all with problems to solve, all with wrongs to right, and all with the notion that their king would help. But their king, picked because he was the most entertaining, he continued being - entertaining!

When the morning sun topped the mountains, all the animals were amazed at all the animals! There seemed as many as on the day when Monkey was chosen King, only now they were tired and hungry. The daytime animals had been there all night, and the night time animals didn't like the day. One of the creatures (no one knows who), bumped another. That one pushed back, the first one fell over some other animal - and the fight was on!

And what a fight! Across the entire plain were creatures scratching and clawing and biting and kicking, most without knowing who they were fighting with. The noise was incredible, the dust rose to the treetops, and from that day to this no one ever seen another Hypogriff, Jojobe, or Five-Legged Mondybrot; they were either destroyed or just got disgusted and left! Only the blazing noon-day sun brought and end to the fighting. Scattered over the great plain were hot, scratched and dirty animals, hungry, thirsty, too tired to raise a paw. And above it all, high in the top of the Great Tree, untouched by the ruckus and conflict, was their king.

Slowly, painfully in some cases, the animals dragged themselves away. They drifted back to their dens and nests and caves. None had received an answer to their question, but they had come away wiser.

Somewhere in a tall, tall tree, Monkey chatters still, cutting capers, putting on shines, acting a fool, hoping everyone notices and likes him. Meanwhile, animals are going about the world, doing animal things. There are no more Truces, no more Assemblies, no more King or Crown. And yet, the animals, one and all, solve their own problems.