Dedicated to my little sister, who loves animals.

Preview audio:

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There once was a peaceful, welcoming kingdom called Erelan. Erelan was home to many animals. The ruler of the kingdom was known as King Ruxarre, the lion. King Ruxarre ruled fairly and cared for his subjects well. But, sometimes, he faced kingly challenges.

One day, as King Ruxarre was pruning his paws, his royal adviser, Sir Squeax, approached him timidly.

"My king?" Sir Squeax asked. "Hello? Sire?" King Ruxarre could not hear him. The poor mouse had to tug on the lion's outer fur to get his attention. When finally he succeeded, Sir Squeax declared, "My King, the one and only Leader of Erelan, I, as your royal adviser, suggest that you, my fair ruler, take a census of the kingdom's species. It would surely help us keep up with all of the newcomers to the village. You know, the market business is booming!" King Ruxarre appeared puzzled. "A census? What in Erelan is that?"

Sir Squeax didn't know exactly how to explain what a census was, so he called for the royal dictionary. "Here we are," the dormouse flipped open the pages of the dictionary to "c". He seemed quite pleased to find an exact definition. "Ah, a census: an official count or survey of a population." King Ruxarre smiled a sharp grin. "A count of our wonderful kingdom's citizens? Why not!" So, the king sent out the royal guards to count the animals of Erelan.

The royal guards, a group of courageous and strong tigers, set off right away, trekking over mountains and braving stormy seas to carry out the king's orders.

The tiger guards traveled to every nook and cranny of the kingdom of Erelan. They had to account for every single creature of the beloved communities- even the ones underwater!

Quite soon, the royal guards returned with the total census count: 30,749 animals in all of Erelan! King Ruxarre was very pleased, and applauded the tigers of their effort, and his dear adviser of his idea.

Many months later, the census's information came in handy for the king. An important package was to be sent from a neighboring kingdom, but the certain kingdom's whole harbor had been tossed around in a storm, destroying the delivery ships. If they could not deliver the package, Erelan would surely despair, so King Ruxarre and his court decided to send some of the animals to collect it. However, only sea and sky creatures could retrieve it, for the kingdom could not be accessed by land.